Two Arizona communities are among the nation’s top 25 cities for new college graduates, according to a new study.

Article originally posted here.

The report by SmartAsset, which analyzed the largest 106 U.S. cities, put Tucson at No. 19 and Phoenix at No. 25.

SmartAsset, a financial technology company based in New York, evaluated the cities on 10 metrics that fell into three categories — jobs, affordability and fun, or lifestyle. Those were combined into a final ranking index.

Phoenix had one of the highest jobs scores among the top 35 cities ranked. It came in at No. 9 in that category, which took into consideration the unemployment rate for college graduates along with the overall January unemployment rate, job openings for college grads listed on Indeed.com and median earnings for college grads.

Also among the top 35, Phoenix fell into the lower-middle of the pack when it came to affordability and in the bottom third for fun (lifestyle). The first considered cost of living and median monthly rent, while the second considered the concentration of dining and entertainment establishments and average Yelp scores for bars and restaurants, as well as percentage of the population between 20 and 29.

Tucson ranked low among the top 35 for jobs, but it was No. 5 for affordability and No. 20 for fun.

The top five cities on the list were Cincinnati; Columbus, Ohio; Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. Those reflected a general predominance of cities in the Midwest and other places away from the coasts. Many of those cities are already known for affordability, but also are college towns that excel for fun, the study said.

The study’s authors also noted the edge in the job market that degree holders have. Across the 106 cities studied, the median earnings for college grads is $54,751, according to U.S. Census data, which is nearly 31% more than the 2019 median earnings for the entire population 25 years and older, which was $41,801.

Moving after college

Phoenix didn’t fare as well in another study, by Porch.com, that considered the best places for people to move after college.

The Phoenix metro ranked No. 41 and Tucson No. 47 out of 53 large U.S. metropolitan areas in that study, which focused more on income and cost of living.

That analysis by Porch, a home services software company, used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Bureau of Economic Analysis to create a composite score based on median incomes and unemployment rates for recent college graduates, number of employer firms per 1,000 residents, concentration of recent graduates compared to the average, median 1-bedroom rent and cost of living.

The data used in the Porch study came from before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Phoenix’s median income for recent grads was figured at $38,000 and the unemployment rate for recent grads was 1.8%. The Valley was slightly lower than average both in its concentration of recent graduates and its median rent. Rents across the region have been steadily increasing in the past year.

Tucson’s median income for recent grads was $33,000, and its unemployment rate was 8.5%. Its concentration of recent graduates was more than 15% below average, and its median rent was 6.9% below average.

Despite the differences in the two studies’ methodologies, three cities made the top five in both studies. The Porch top five were Pittsburgh; St. Louis; Omaha, Nebraska; Cleveland and Cincinnati.