What are the top cities you’d like to live in?
My homegirl put me on to this list of top cities for young professionals, and I had to wonder who they asked. An accompanying story explained that cities with higher percentages of productive young adults tend to have faster-growing economies than ones that don’t. That makes perfect sense, since young people start more companies than older folks and among this generation and tend to spend more, too (we’re just buying first houses, cars, having first kids, and all that pumps money into a city).
I can’t help but think, though, that they’d have a different top five (Raleigh, Austin, D.C., Vegas and Phoenix made the list here) if one of the criteria had been where do young black adults want to live. Austin may be attracting young people overall, but I know a sister in her early 30s who just ran kicking and screaming out of there because of its lack of diversity. Sista couldn’t buy a decent date, and trust me, fellas, she’s hot.
I like Vegas to gamble, but I’m not about to move out to the desert. There’s no way Atlanta and Chicago don’t join D.C. on the list of top cities for young professionals among most of my friends. And that’s more significant than just one clique’s collective opinion, given research that shows that young adults of this generation tend to choose where they want to live first, and then look for a job, as opposed to vice-versa. Cities that don’t rank high on young people’s list can bet they’ll be in for economic trouble in the coming 20 years.
So what’s your to five? Where do you want to live now, and where would you want to “settle down”

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professionals, it says, don’t think it’s taboo to tell their friends what they bring home, and in some cases comparing salaries with your friends can help you figure out if you’re being underpaid. I can understand that: I’d love to know if the person sitting next to me made, say, $30 grand more for doing the same job, but that might not necessarily account for factors like the higher-earning person being more experienced.