With nearly 50% of millennials looking to start their own business in the next three years, it is not a surprise that the new generation of entrepreneurs aren’t based – or even particularly interested – in Silicon Valley. With students and recent graduates all over the country experiencing startup fever, college towns may just be the next big thing for entrepreneurship.
Even though nearly 47% of venture capital deal value in the U.S. goes to the West Coast, other startup hubs are rising. Cities such as Columbus, OH, St. Louis, MO, and Denver, CO, offer burgeoning and diverse economies with a dense concentration of college students – Ohio State, Washington University and University of Denver, respectively. Along with lower costs of living, the talent and technology emerging from college towns have become a magnet for startups and VC dollars.
The overall cost of living in San Francisco is 60% higher than the national average, according to PayScale, with housing a whopping 165% above the average. Michigan, for example, where the cost of living is 9% lower than the national average, has received $1.4 billion in startup investment in the past five years, according to a Pitchbook Report on VC ecosystems. As the cost of living and job competition increases in Silicon Valley, many companies and venture capitalist firms are investing in college towns. Read the full story here.
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