Houston High on List for Young Workers

Portfolio.com, an online publication owned by American City Business Journals, put out this survey, as reported by the Houston Business Journal:

Opportunities abound for young workers and therefore ranks Houston as one of the top cities in America for that demographic, according to a ranking by Portfolio.com. Houston ranked No. 5 of 67 metropolitan markets in the United States for cities with the best opportunities for people in the 18 to 34 age group. Austin, Texas ranked #1 in the country, followed by Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Boston.

Portfolio.com (http://www.portfolio.com/)analyzed the 67 U.S. metros with populations above 750,000, searching for qualities that would appeal to workers in their 20s and early 30s. The study’s 10-part formula gave the highest marks to places with strong growth rates, moderate costs of living and substantial pools of young adults who are college-educated and employed.

Houston’s estimated population stood at 5.7 million as of 2008. Of that total, about 24.3 percent of the city’s population was in the 18-to-34 year old demographic. In 2008, the latest year figures were available for the study, the jobless rate for the young working adult was 7.8 percent. However, the Bayou City did not fare well in terms of educational attainment. Only 18.8 percent of young adults in Houston had a bachelor’s degree, compared to Boston, which led the nation at 37.6 percent.