Atlanta (again) crowned best U.S. city for recent college grads Josh Green Thu, 06/05/2025 - 13:09
With graduation season freshly in the rearview, researchers with online database CoworkingCafe have weighed factors from attractive places across the U.S. to determine the best big-city landing spot for people who’ve recently obtained college degrees.
Their answer for 2025? The Big Peach.
For the second time in three years, CoworkingCafe has placed Atlanta at No. 1 in its annual “Top Cities for Grads” ranking, returning the crown from 2024’s winner, San Francisco.
Researchers cited Atlanta’s “dynamic cultural scene” and “economic vitality,” along with stable price levels and relatively strong graduate job rates as reasons for the pick, though the picture wasn’t entirely rosy.
Of 290 U.S. cities analyzed, Atlanta was ranked in the “Big City” category for those with populations of 400,000 or more.
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The study marks another strong showing for ATL when it comes to being a career launchpad. In both 2023 and 2024, personal finance website WalletHub declared Atlanta the best U.S. city for starting a career among 182 studied.
For 2025, strong financial and employment metrics working in Atlanta’s favor included these main CoworkingCafe findings:
- Atlanta’s median income swelled by $2,287 over the course of a year, now reaching $82,201—good for the seventh highest among large cities;
- The city’s nearly 64 percent share of population with employer-based health insurance lands it at 14th place;
- Atlanta earned the ninth spot for 50.5 percent share of its population having bachelor’s degrees, also counting nearly 6 percent graduate jobs per total jobs;
- But the city shined brightest in the lifestyle category. In 2025, Atlanta counts 733 leisure establishments (up eight total from 2024) and nearly 24 coworking spaces per 100,000 residents, ranking second and first, respectively, among large cities for those metrics.
Not all Atlanta metrics are heading in positive directions, however.
CoworkingCafe analysts noted a “modest but noticeable decline” in Atlanta’s share of young adults holding bachelor’s degrees—and a bigger drop in those covered by employer health insurance. Those dips could affect overall workforce qualifications and benefits accessibility, the study notes.
But another selling point, as usual, remains Atlanta’s relative housing affordability in comparison to other major markets, ranking less than just 1 percent above the national average.
In terms of methodology, CoworkingCafe pulled data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey and County Business Patterns reports, along with data points from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and coworking space market data from SSI.
Here's a snapshot of the top 10 big U.S. cities for recent grads right now, as CoworkingCafe sees it:
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