Ohio Cities Outperform Rust Belt Counterparts in Forbes Rankings

Normally I wouldn't post something like this, but TAmber's comments last week put me in the mood to toot our own horn. Forbes magazine just released its annual rankings of the best cities for young professionals. And while, Ohio's big three of Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus didn't exactly light the world on fire (they placed 27th, 23rd, and 25th, respectively) they did outperform their rust belt counterparts of Detroit, Buffalo, and Indianapolis. 

The biggest surprise to me was the ranking of Milwaukee, that's right, Milwaukee, amongst the top 10. Someone from the Ohio Department of Development needs to get their ass on a plane up there and figure out what they are doing so right to be ranked higher than the noted young professional playgrounds of Austin, TX and San Diego, CA. 

What was Forbes' methodology, you might ask?

We started by tracking the graduates from a cadre of elite schools around the country who have the ability to go virtually anywhere to follow their professional interests. By looking at where the class of 1998 from Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Rice, Northwestern and Duke settled 10 years later, we get a good sense of where the top-notch jobs for young people exist.

We then combine those rankings with the locations of Forbes' 400 best big companies and 200 best small companies; these are rated by revenue and high rankings for corporate practices, as well as long- and short-term sales, earnings growth and stock market performance. The more of these companies that are located in a city, the better its long-term growth prospects look, and the more high-powered job creation is likely in the future.

The full article is available here.