Hometown Glory
But Houston's hip for the young & the not-so-restless
Ok, so maybe the Daily Beast doesn't think Houston is as crazy as Austin or, you know, Cincinnati. But have you been to Cincinnati? Those people are nuts.
We'd much rather bask in Houston's ranking as one of the top five cities in the country for young adults, as judged by Portfolio.com.
Now admittedly this isn't a survey that's measuring the number of cool bars or weighing in on the singles scene. Portfolio looked at the 67 largest metropolitan areas in the country and judged them based on the percentage of the population between 18 and 34, the rate of population growth, the rate of unemployment growth, the amount of people 18-34 who were unemployed and who had at least a bachelor's degree, and how many people under 45 have a household income over $100,000.
Or to put it more simply, Portfolio wanted to know what cities have large blocks of employed, college-educated young adults with a standard of living that allows them to afford enjoying their town.
Houston came in at No. 5, behind first-place Austin and two ahead of seventh-place finisher Dallas-Ft. Worth. Rounding out the top five were Washington, D. C. at No. 2, Raleigh in third and Boston fourth.
With a high percentage of young adults (almost a quarter of the population) and relatively good numbers on the jobless rate and growth, the figure holding Houston back is the low amount of young Houstonians with college degrees: Only 18.8 percent, compared to 37.6 percent for Boston and 35.8 percent in Washington D. C.
Maybe crazy is overrated. We'll take young, fabulous and not broke over crazy any day.
