CHICAGO - As recent graduates throughout the country calculate their next steps, World Business Chicago engaged local university partners and compiled data to 
determine the top reasons college graduates choose Chicago. Make Your Mark: 10 Reasons Recent Grads Choose Chicago breaks down the top reasons that recent graduates opt for Chicago in deciding where to work and live.
Research proves that attracting young talent is essential to a city’s economic development efforts. Better educated areas equate to higher income and increased civic participation. In addition, a study sponsored by CEOs for Cities suggests educational attainment strongly correlates to regional economic growth, and that a one percent increase in the attainment of 4-year college degrees in Chicago could generate a $7.2 billion increase in per capita income.
World Business Chicago continues to develop strategies to attract, retain and engage an energetic, educated and diverse workforce. Make Your Mark finds that with relatively high salaries and a low cost of living, Chicago offers opportunities and amenities that rival other major U.S. cities, but with greater potential for financial mobility than comparatively high-priced cities on the coasts.
The report finds that recent college graduates choose Chicago to:
- Access top employers
- Pursue any career
- Build your resume
- Establish networks
- Feed your intellect
- Earn more
- Spend less
- Explore innovative culture
- Find your place
- Make your mark
“People who live in or have visited Chicago know that its vibrancy, diversity and unique cultural attributes offer an incomparable quality of life. Make Your Mark also focuses on how access to top employers within almost any sector, unmatched networking opportunities, and options for continued growth through the city’s prestigious universities are important attributes for prospective Chicagoans,” said Rita Athas, President of World Business Chicago. “By reaching out to recent graduates, and recruiting them to Chicago, we are also building our talent pool which, in turn, helps us recruit companies to locate and expand here.”
“I’ve found life in The City of Broad Shoulders more affordable than I expected. Overall cost of living is less in Chicago than in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, D.C., or Philadelphia, but all the big-city perks still stand,” said Yale undergraduate and WBC intern, Whitney Barlow, in her blog about interning in Chicago, InTheWhiteCity.wordpress.com. “Though popular belief may insist otherwise, it is possible to live on a budget amidst the bustle of a major city.”
Through partnerships with local institutions, including DePaul University, Loyola University Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as corporate recruiters, WBC aims to seek out recent college graduates who are choosing where to begin their careers and demonstrate that Chicago is the ideal location.
For the complete report, visit: WorldBusinessChicago.com/make-your-mark
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