New York City remains the most desirable city for college-educated Americans — by a long shot, according to new Census data.
More than 6% of college grads who moved in 2023 ended up in the Big Apple, Axios reported, citing the 2023 one-year American Community Survey.
That’s more than Los Angeles and Chicago combined.
That’s almost twice as many as the next biggest destinations — Washington, DC, which got 3.5% of white collar workers and Dallas, which received 3.2%.
Chicago and Los Angeles attracted 2.4% of college grads apiece.
Several other once-popular cities also trailed behind, including Denver with 2.4%, Boston with 2.2% and San Francisco with 2.1%.
It’s good news for New York after the city saw a major exodus during the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents have continued to flee en masse, with many complaining of crime and high cost of living as they leave.
New York lost an estimated 78,000 people in 2023, the same year the as the American Community Survey. That’s the third year in a row that the Big Apple’s population has shriveled.
The Census data about college grads includes people who reported moving to a new county in the last year.
Another report from 2024 conducted by the Citizens Budget Commission found that about half of New Yorkers plan to join the exodus from the city within five years, with only 30% saying they’re happy in the city and blaming a significant decline since the pandemic.