These five midsize U.S. cities boast shorter commutes, dynamic culture, booming tech, walkability, and affordable homes. Median home prices in these cities range from $178,100 to $258,900.
Madison, Wisconsin is a thriving college town serving as the state capital, and as a successful tech hub of the Midwest. According to Curbed, a Brookings Institution study placed it in the top 10 cities for tech job growth in the nation. Looking at the numbers, Madison's unemployment rate is at 1.9 percent, and the median home price is $237,600. Millennials make up nearly 27 percent of the city's overall population of 252,551.
To create this list (which appears in no particular order), Curbed consulted a number of reports and experts, representing the Urban Land Institute, RCLCO Real Estate Advisors, and American Planning Association, and then checked their suggestions against a number of data points, including job growth, home value, and millennial population growth. As we did last year, we purposely avoided listing cities that have been cited in similar articles for years (Austin and Nashville, for example).
