While it’s true that you lose some of your mobility as you get older, have children, buy houses, and settle into jobs, it doesn’t mean that the urge to explore and travel to other-city adventures doesn’t stay with you.  It’s one of the reasons I sometimes envy the younger generation … their sense of freedom, ability to pick up and move, and courage to walk into a place they’ve never been is a wonderful grace!

But where do today’s young’uns want to live?  Joshua Dorkin over at Bigger Pockets linked to this Wall Street Journal article that reveals the top 11 youth-magnet places to live.  I was a bit disappointed that my own metropolitan area didn’t rate the list, but would wholeheartedly move to Chicago, New York, Portland, Boston, or Austin!  It would thrill me to spend a year in each location!!

Big cities dominate our panelists’ forecasts. Where trendy smaller cities might have captivated youth in the past, today’s recession-scarred young people are more pragmatic, placing “greater emphasis on where high-quality, high-paying jobs are created,” says Ross DeVol, director of regional economics for the nonprofit Milken Institute. Northeastern and West Coast cities are ascendant, eclipsing former Sunbelt favorites such as Atlanta.

Well this explains the absence of Nashvegas on the list!