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Seven Cool Cities
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
By Jane Bennett Clark

Forget New York. Our top towns for young professionals are fun and affordable.

Tempting as it may be to launch your career in Boston, New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco, you may find it just as rewarding －－ and a heck of a lot cheaper －－ to look beyond the bright lights and high rents of those meccas for twentysomethings. We found seven locations that are perfect for young professionals. These cities all have a healthy head count of people under 30 and a solid or improving job market. Each city’s cost of living is at or near the national average for students and young wage earners, based on numbers from the Economic Research Institute. For neighborhood and rental information, we culled local resources and Craigslist.org； recent listings are under “what you just missed.” As a bonus, we asked relocation experts at Salary.com to calculate the extra money you’d pocket if you left a job that paid $35,000 in New York City and found a comparable position in one of our hip havens.

1. Athens, Ga.
The town that gave the world R.E.M., the B-52’s and Widespread Panic boasts 400 bands and more than a dozen recording studios. It also offers free Wi-Fi downtown, a thriving arts community and a college football team －－ the Bulldogs －－ that even the rockers root for. The University of Georgia and two regional hospitals help keep the city’s unemployment rate impressively low.

Where to rent: Five Points, West Side, downtown
What you’ll pay: $650-$750 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, or $750-$850 for a two-bedroom unit
What you just missed: a one-bedroom stone cottage with fireplace in Five Points, $750
Where to be at 11 p.m.: 40 Watt Club, Georgia Theatre Not-in-NYC bonus: $8,752

2. Atlanta.
Southern hospitality here means serving up free Wi-Fi: Atlanta ranks fourth among U.S. cities for wireless hot spots, according to MetroFreeFi.com. A magnet for college-educated young people, the area has lost jobs in technology but added them in the fields of education, hospitality and government. The city’s serious side includes Emory University and the Carter Center. Scene hoppers hit Buckhead for the clubs and Little Five Points for the coffeehouses, bars and restaurants.

Where to rent: Midtown, Virginia Highlands, East Atlanta
What you’ll pay: $600-$900 a month for a one-bedroom, $800-$1,350 for a two-bedroom
What you just missed: a three-bedroom house with a fireplace and front porch in Virginia Highlands, $1,650
Where to be at 11 p.m.: Django, Bazzaar, Compound
Not-in-NYC bonus: $10,735

3. Austin.
After paying $800 a month for her share of a shoebox in Brooklyn’s outer reaches, Nicole Cloutier, 24, deserted New York City and moved to the land of Dixie (Chicks, that is). Also home to the University of Texas, “Austin is a great college town filled with musicians, margaritas, swimming holes, cute neighborhoods, laid-back people and cheap rents,” says Cloutier. Although she had to settle for a job waiting tables, Cloutier and her boyfriend pay $900 a month for a two-bedroom duplex with a big yard for their dog, Darby. Austin ranks fifth for free Wi-Fi； hot nightspots include South Congress, the Sixth Street music corridor and the Warehouse District.

Where to rent: South Austin, downtown
What you’ll pay: $500-$800 a month for a one-bedroom, $700-$1,200 for a two-bedroom (one-bedrooms start at $800 downtown)
What you just missed: a two-bedroom with a patio in South Austin, $725
Where to be at 11 p.m.: Continental Club, Stubb’s Bar-B-Q, Cedar Street Courtyard
Not-in-NYC bonus: $10,395

4. Denver.
The job market in Denver is climbing out of a recession, but that hasn’t deterred young, educated singles from flocking here. As in Atlanta and Austin, “they want a community that has amenities first, and they want a job second,” says Rebecca Ryan, of Next Generation Consulting. Among Denver’s attractions are its pub-and-club-packed downtown, known as LoDo； a good light-rail system； a top-20 ranking for free Wi-Fi； and a little playground known as the Rocky Mountains. With a glut in the rental market and an affordable-housing program, even the young and the (relatively) broke can grab a center-city Victorian cottage or an industrial loft with a panoramic view.

Where to rent: Lower Downtown (LoDo), Highland, West Highland
What you’ll pay: $700-$800 a month for a one-bedroom, $900-$1,200 for a two-bedroom； under the housing program, $800 for a one-bedroom loft
What you just missed: a two-bedroom bungalow in the Highlands, $1,400
Where to be at 11 p.m.: Tryst Lounge, Vinyl, hi-dive, Larimer Lounge
Not-in-NYC bonus: $11,686

5. Minneapolis.
Theaters, museums, parks and lakes keep Minneapolis’s many college grads sharp and in shape. The city ranks in the top ten for Wi-Fi hot spots and owes its below-average unemployment rate to a diverse job market, which includes the University of Minnesota and several hospitals. Bohemians live and play in the northeast part of town； partygoers congregate along First Avenue (and at the nightclub where the guy who is once again known as Prince filmed Purple Rain). Memo to erstwhile Manhattanites: Bring your mittens.

Where to rent: Uptown, Northeast, North Loop
What you’ll pay: $600-$700 a month for a one-bedroom, $800-$1,100 for a two-bedroom
What you just missed: a three-bedroom house with all-natural woodwork in Uptown, $1,250
Where to be at 11:00 p.m.: First Avenue, Poodle Club
Not-in-NYC bonus: $11,800

6. Nashville.
With an aggressive strategy for recruiting companies, Nashville added 10,600 new jobs in 2004 alone. But its coolness quotient comes from the $2-billion-plus music business, which includes recording and video production. “The people in that industry are very high-income, young and hip,” says Janet Miller, of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. Students rent in the Belmont/Hillsboro area, near Vanderbilt University, and young professionals can buy fixer-uppers starting at about $125,000 in Historic Edgefield or Lockeland Springs. The nightlife is full-time in Music City. Head downtown for the honky-tonk, or hit Five Points for the clubs and bars.

Where to rent: Hillsboro/Belmont, West End, Sylvan Park, Green Hills, downtown
What you’ll pay: $600-$900 a month for a one-bedroom, $1,000-$1,300 for a two-bedroom, loft or small house
What you just missed: a two-bedroom, two-bath condo with a gas fireplace in Hillsboro, $1,250 Where to be at 11 p.m.: Bound’ry, Exit/In, Mercy Lounge Not-in-NYC bonus: $11,335

7. Raleigh.
Part of the Research Triangle (including Durham and Chapel Hill), Raleigh is as hot as it gets, thanks to a healthy job market, a billion-dollar downtown rehab, top universities and plentiful, inexpensive housing. About two years ago, Tom Augur, a 27-year-old certified public accountant, left Boston for Raleigh’s small-city atmosphere. His three-bedroom townhouse cost $150,000. “I would have gotten 50% less in Boston and paid more than twice as much,” he says. Young locals eat sushi and listen to blues in Glenwood South, or hit dance parties in the Warehouse District.

Where to rent: Duraleigh Road, Cameron Village, downtown
What you’ll pay: $650 a month for a one-bedroom, $750 for a two-bedroom, $750-$950 for a two-bedroom house
What you just missed: a two-bedroom apartment in a Tudor-style house near Cameron Village, $650
Where to be at 11 p.m.: Lincoln Theatre, Martin Street Music Hall
Not-in-NYC bonus: $9,218