3 Missouri Cities Top Grad List—St. Louis, KC Left Out

It's the time of year when graduates turn their tassels and prepare for life after school. Three places in Missouri were chosen among the top 5 cities in America for new college grads and it's not St. Louis or Kansas City that made the list.

This brand new best US cities for new college grads from Checkr includes some interesting choices in its top 25. You won't find the typical metro areas mentioned, but some very underrated Missouri places instead.

How did they decide what cities are best for new college grads?

According to their methodology, they crunched numbers from the US Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis in 7 different categories:

• Unemployment
• Labor force participation
• Income to rent ratio
• % of renters paying <30% of income in rent
• Personal income
• Proportion of college grads to total population
• How many entertainment venues for grads

What Missouri places made the top 25?

Sorry, St. Louis and Kansas City. You did not rank in the top 25, but 3 other Missouri places did. Columbia, Missouri was ranked as the 3rd best city for college graduates followed by Cape Girardeau at #4 and Jefferson City, Missouri at #24.

What many don't realize is that Columbia, Missouri especially has become something of a hidden tech capital with many new projects and companies in that part of Missouri that offer very attractive opportunities for new college grads. I'm not surprised at all that some of the more underrated Missouri towns ended up getting recognized as great places for a recent college graduate to start the next chapter of their life in.