Kiplinger: Best Cities for Every Life Stage
Best Cities for Every Life Stage
Some cities are better suited to mid-career workers than to retirees, and some appeal to recent grads more than to families. That's why Kiplinger picked five great cities for each of five different age groups -- young adults, mid-career professionals, families, second acts and retirees.
All of the cities on Kiplinger's list have reasonable living costs, strong employment growth and a population that scores high on measures of education, tech-savviness and tolerance. Kiplinger sorted them further by using criteria tailored to each of our categories. For instance, we factored in rental cost for young adults; commute times for professionals; school quality for families; the arts and number of restaurants for second acts; and, for retirees, climate and number of doctors.
To identify the winners, Kiplinger teamed up with Kevin Stolarick, research director at the Martin Prosperity Institute, a think tank that studies economic prosperity. The cost-of-living index measures how expensive it is to live in a city; the national average score is 100. That means cities with a score below 100 have a lower-than-average cost of living. Nationwide, the median price of an existing single-family home is $157,000, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $959, median income is $43,024 and median income growth from 2006 to 2011 was 11.1%. The national unemployment rate is 8.2%.
(CREDIT: Thinkstock)
More From Kiplinger:
The 5 Best Cities for Young Adults
The 5 Best Cities for Families
The 5 Best Cities for Retirees
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
All of the cities on Kiplinger's list have reasonable living costs, strong employment growth and a population that scores high on measures of education, tech-savviness and tolerance. Kiplinger sorted them further by using criteria tailored to each of our categories. For instance, we factored in rental cost for young adults; commute times for professionals; school quality for families; the arts and number of restaurants for second acts; and, for retirees, climate and number of doctors.
To identify the winners, Kiplinger teamed up with Kevin Stolarick, research director at the Martin Prosperity Institute, a think tank that studies economic prosperity. The cost-of-living index measures how expensive it is to live in a city; the national average score is 100. That means cities with a score below 100 have a lower-than-average cost of living. Nationwide, the median price of an existing single-family home is $157,000, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $959, median income is $43,024 and median income growth from 2006 to 2011 was 11.1%. The national unemployment rate is 8.2%.
(CREDIT: Thinkstock)
More From Kiplinger:
The 5 Best Cities for Young Adults
The 5 Best Cities for Families
The 5 Best Cities for Retirees
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast.
