Where do young college grads migrate to when they finish school and start a career?

Turns out, according to an article in Monday’s New York Times trendy The Upshot section, young people are spurning the suburbs for urban living.

In fact, the number of 25 to 34 year-olds, or Millenials as they are often called, living within 3 miles of a city center is up 37 percent since 2000 and 25 percent more college grads live in major metropolitan areas than did the at the turn of the century.

And its not just big cities like New York and Atlanta drawing young professionals either.  Smaller cities like Denver, Salt Lake City, San Diego and Pittsburgh, even rust belt cities like Cleveland and Buffalo, are luring young people in record numbers as well.

Why does this trend of young professionals gravitating to city centers matter to Chester County’s long-term economic health?

Because, as the NY Times article illustrates, the migration of young people into an area means more jobs, higher growth and more opportunities for everyone living and working in the area.

The Times article quotes Enrico Moretti, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, to underscore the importance of young workers on an economy:

“It’s a type of growth that feeds on itself — the more young workers you have, the more companies are interested in locating their operations in that area and the more young people are going to move there,”

Moretti numbers cited in the Times article are convincing:

For every college graduate who takes a job in an innovation industry, he found, five additional jobs are eventually created in that city, such as for waiters, carpenters, doctors, architects and teachers.

A key theme of VISTA 2025, the ten year economic plan rolled out by the County and The Chester County Economic Development Council two weeks ago, is attracting and retaining young high school, but especially, college grads.

The VISTA 2025 recommends County civic and business leaders establish internships and apprentice programs, create programs to repay student loans, identify opportunities for young professionals to “engage in civic and economic development” and develop a regional and national campaign to expand the awareness of career opportunities in Chester County.

And its not just career opportunities drawing Millennials, as this demographic is often referred to, into cities.  Rewarding job opportunities coupled with an open life style symbolized by microbreweries, bike sharing, diversity, outdoor adventures and the abundance of “cultural things to do” that serve as a magnet of young professionals.

While the trend toward the cities is at once a challenge to a county that is the essence of suburbia and who’s crowning achievement over the last 20 years is the preservation of open spaces, it none the less offers a unique opportunity for sustained development and growth of the fifteen boroughs and one city center that dot the county.

Indeed VISTA 2025 recognizes the need to establish an “urban area economic strategy” and “implement a city strategy” to both create a wider diversity of living options as well as appeal to the younger generation just starting their careers and families.

Read the entire New York Times article here and access and the VISTA 2025 plan here.

__________
Top photo credit: photo credit: bittermelon via photopin cc