Two Kentucky cities among best places for new college grads, report shows. Here’s why

If you’re graduating from college and looking to embark on the next chapter of your life, might we suggest Kentucky?

But don’t take our word for it, listen to SmartAsset.com. Two Kentucky cities — Lexington and Louisville — are among the website’s top 10 American cities for new college grads.

The list was compiled from the 106 most populous cities across the U.S.

The website takes into account three of the most important things for 20-somethings: jobs, affordability and fun.

Lexington ranks sixth on Smart Asset’s list, aided by a high ranking on the website’s “fun” metric. With plenty of local favorites, Lexington has the third-highest average restaurant Yelp score at 4.13 out of 5.0. It also boasts the 24th-largest population between the ages of 20 and 29 at 18.11%.

To create the “fun” score, Smart Asset also took into account the concentration of entertainment and dining establishments.

Lexington is fairly affordable compared to other cities, Smart Asset notes. Thanks to having the ninth-lowest cost of living at $19,526, Lexington had the 17th best affordability score. This metric also took into account monthly median rent.

According to Smart Asset’s rankings, Lexington has some bragging rights on Louisville, which came in 10th on the list.

But Louisville did beat out Lexington in some of the metrics. Louisville had the best Yelp ratings for both restaurants (4.21) and bars (4.06) in the study.

It also ranks ninth in affordability — thanks to a median monthly rent of $728 and cost of living at $19,646.

Midwest cities dominated Smart Asset’s top 10 list, including two in Ohio. Cincinnati topped the list, while Columbus was No. 2. Milwaukee, St. Louis and Pittsburgh rounded out the top five.