Study ranks Ann Arbor No. 1 for millennials

Ann Arbor is ranked first in the nation among the most desirable small cities to live and work for millennials while Detroit is ranked close to last in a study released Tuesday by the American Institute of Economic Research.

The combination of a low unemployment rate, the University of Michigan and a thriving technology industry helped vault Ann Arbor to the top spot in the study.

"In addition, Ann Arbor offers urban amenities that young and educated migrants favor. The combination of public transit and increasing investments in a bicycle infrastructure support a significant portion of commuters who have found alternatives to the solo drive to work," the study concluded.

The American Institute for Economic Research, a nonprofit economic research organization based in Great Barrington, Mass., studied migration patterns of adults ranging in age from 22 to 35 with college degrees to see where they choose to live.

Researchers identified eight factors that influenced migration patterns of college grads among 260 metro areas and split those areas up into four categories according to size.

The factors, called an Employment Destinations Index, identified included: perceived education level of the people in the area, employment rate, transportation, entertainment, potential earning power, rent, competition for jobs and diversity.

"After making the economic decision to move, the young and educated are looking for places where they can have a meaningful work/life balance," said Rosalind Greenstein, director of research and education at AIER.

The cities that ranked highest in each size category were Washington, D.C.; the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut area; Ann Arbor, and Iowa City, Iowa.

The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro area was 48th out of 51 cities in its major metros category.

Contact Brent Snavely: 313-222-6512 or bsnavely@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrentSnavely.