Charleston ranks highly among young professionals

Charleston is ranked as No. 2 on a list of best small cities for young professionals to live and work.

The designation, announced this month, comes from Next Generation Consulting, a company that studies city and workplace preferences of 20- to 40-years-olds.

Fort Collins, Col., took the No. 1 spot among cities with 100,000 to 200,000 people.

The rankings are based on seven characteristics that are important to young professionals: earning, learning, vitality, around town, after hours, cost of lifestyle and social capital.

The company conducted a separate survey of Charleston young professionals and found that 75% of the 411 area’s young professionals surveyed were transplants from other places. The average proportion of transplants in all cities surveyed was 51%.

Charleston’s higher-than-average percentage indicates that the area is successfully attracting young professionals.

The area’s location, climate and beaches are the top reasons young professional chose to live in the Charleston area, the survey revealed, followed by a job, proximity to family or college.

Charleston Young Professionals sponsored the survey to measure the impact of young professionals in the community. The organization, launched in 2006 as an initiative of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, provides networking for professionals between the ages of 22 and 39 and works to attract and retain the number of young professionals living and working here. The survey was conducted between Dec. 1 and Jan. 16.

The survey also revealed shortcomings of the area, in the eyes of young professionals. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they cannot afford to live in the area of the community they prefer.

The survey showed a disparity between the importance young professionals place on the ease of commuting and getting around the community and the ease of doing so in Charleston, specifically.

Another disparity was the importance of job choices and the actual range of choices in Charleston.

The survey found the following demographic characteristics of young professionals in Charleston:

91% have a four-year degree or higher.
80% are mobile, meaning they do not have children.
The median individual income is about $47,500. The median household income is about $87,500.
90% are white.
57% own homes, with an average home value of $250,000.
96% are registered voters, and 85% voted in the last local election.
64% volunteer in the community at least once a month.

“The survey results will provide the necessary data to better position CYP and help prioritize the issues that matter most to young professionals to continue to successfully engage, attract and retain them to the Charleston region,” said Kellee McGahey, chair of Charleston Young Professionals.

Next Generation Consulting’s ranking, called “The Next Cities,” highlights cities that are, or have the capacity to be great places for the next generation to live and work, the company said.

“Simply being the cheapest place to live, or the city with the most jobs is not a long-term work force strategy,” said Rebecca Ryan, the company’s founder.

“The next generation is very savvy about choosing where they’ll live,” she said. “They look carefully at quality of life factors like how much time they’re going to spend in traffic commuting, if they can live near a park or hike-and-bike trail, and whether a city’s downtown stays awake after five.”