College grads: Settle someplace new

After graduating, I always figured I'd settle down in Washington or maybe even Baltimore. It never occurred to me to live somewhere else. However, after visiting friends in other cities, I started thinking about if a different city might be better for me.

In May, Richard Florida wrote an article for The Daily Beast called "25 Best Cities for College Grads." I ignored the advice when it came out but reconsidered it after a second look.

Washington was actually listed as the seventh best city to live in. The first six were all college towns — Ithaca, N.Y.; Madison, Wis.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Durham, N.C.; Austin, Texas, and Boulder, Colo.

Criteria for these cities were the population of 20-somethings, population of unmarried residents, average salary, unemployment rate, population of college-educated residents, number of rental units, the availability of "youth-oriented" amenities like bars and entertainment venues, population of employed "creative capital" like entertainers and writers, the city's openness to newcomers and how affordable of a city it is. It's basically a compilation of the best college towns and big cities.

The rest of the list (in order) reads: Boston; New York; Iowa City, Iowa; Charlottesville, Va.; College Station, Texas; Lawrence, Kan.; Lincoln, Neb.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Columbia, Mo.; Trenton, N.J.; San Francisco; State College, Pa.; San Diego; Los Angeles; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Albany, N.Y.; San Jose, Calif., and Seattle.

As an uninformed and biased college graduate, I can't say I'm particularly excited about moving to Wisconsin at all. As much as I love cheese, I don't want to make a living off of it. However, I did just come back from Austin and it was awesome. I would move there in a heartbeat. Austin is one of the few cities, if not the only city, that offers low-cost health insurance to uninsured musicians through their Health Alliance For Austin Musicians. But what else would you expect from the city that calls itself the "Live Music Capital of the World"?

While moving to one of the big cities on the list seems exciting, moving to a college town seems strange. I just graduated from college, do I really want to live in a city that caters to assholes — I mean, college students? I'm just nervous that it would feel vaguely similar to staying in College Park, which would make me the creepy old person at Thirsty Turtle on the weekend.

Figuring out which city might be the perfect one for you may seem nerve racking. It's not that I don't love Washington, but I've lived in the area for the last four years and I kind of want to see what else is out there. If I didn't need money, I would just toss a few things into a backpack and wander through America. However, things cost money.

If you're having trouble picking the perfect city to live in, Richard Florida's team at Martin Prosperity Institute created an interesting tool to help people figure where they should move. It can be found at www.creativeclass.com/whos_your_city/place_finder/. It won't make the decision for you, but it will help you think about important factors. Happy hunting!

Shruti Rastogi graduated in May with a degree in journalism. She can be reached at rastogi at umdbk dot com.