College graduates ready to start a new chapter in their lives should consider living in Kentucky.
A study by SmartAsset had two Kentucky cities on its top 10 list of best cities for new college graduates. The financial website looked at the 106 largest cities in the United States and ranked them on things most important to 20-somethings.
The metrics they looked at are jobs (unemployment rate for college grads, average earnings, and overall unemployment), affordability (the average monthly price of rent and the city's cost of living), and fun (concentration of entertainment and restaurants, percentage of people in their 20s, and average Yelp scores for area bars and restaurants).
Lexington came in at #7. It ranked near the top because the city has the third-highest average restaurant Yelp score (4.13) and 18% of the city's population is between 20 and 29 years old.
Lexington's low cost of living ($19,526) also helped its ranking.
Rounding out the top 10 is Louisville. The median rent is $728 and the cost of living is $19,646. Louisville also has the highest Yelp ratings in this study for both bars (4.06) and restaurants (4.21).
The Top 10 cities are:
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Columbus, Ohio
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Lexington, Kentucky
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Louisville, Kentucky
See the full list here.
Photo: Getty Images