Forbes rates Cincinnati as #15 best U.S. city for recent college grads

College graduates today face better job prospects than those from a few years ago but are typically saddled by student loan debt, Forbes magazine writes, so "they would be wise to consider carefully where to start their careers."

To find out which cities offer the best overall prospects for college-educated workers with five years of experience or less, Forbes has crunched data on job growth, unemployment rates, pay and cost of living in America’s largest 100 metro areas. Its resulting 2016 list of the 20 Best Cities for Young Professionals includes Cincinnati at #15.

The top cities, according to Forbes, are either job-heavy economic powerhouses where the pay is high and the cost of living is too (places like San Francisco at #1 and Silicon Valley at #2) or underrated mid-tier markets where the pay is still decent but the cost of living is a relative bargain.

According to the numbers, Cincinnati's median salary for college grads with 0-5 years experience is $50,800; the population with bachelor's degree is 31.44%; the average yearly job growth (2015-2017) is 1.96%; and the cost of living is 8.17% below the national average.

Two regional cities finished ahead of Cincinnati — Columbus at #7 and Indianapolis at #10.

Read the full Forbes list and methodology here.