The Peoria area is a hotspot for young professionals according to Next Generation Consulting (NGC). 

NGC announced its "Next Cities" rankings - the best places to live and work for young professionals –Peoria was ranked 16 on the list of top 20 cities with a population of 100,000-200,000.   

This Madison, WI organization has studied the residential and relocation patterns of 20-40 years olds since 1998, and has developed an indexing system that evaluates a city based on the assets that are important to next gen workers.  According to NGC, the seven indexes of a “Next City” are: Earning, Learning, Vitality, Around Town, After Hours, Cost of Lifestyle, and Social Capital.  The rankings announced recently are based on a city's total score in all seven indexes.

Ryan Alwood with the Young Professionals Organization of Greater Peoria (YPO) says “Rebecca’s organization confirmed what young professionals who live in the greater Peoria already realize.  This is a great community that offers a wide range of professional, cultural, and social opportunities.   When NGC founder Rebecca Ryan spoke at the YPO “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? THE KEY TO ATTRACT, RETAIN AND ENGAGE TOP TALENT” event in February, she talked about the importance of attracting this demographic to the region.  It is the mission of the YPO to offer opportunities which attract and retain young professionals in the Greater Peoria Area.   As an organization we plan to continue to help engage, empower and develop the skill set of young professionals as it is this generation of citizens that will shape our community moving forward.

Click here http://www.peoriachamber.org/goto/HotSpotYPO to view the full report from Next Generation Consulting.