It appears the Queen City is doing a better job of drawing educated young adults.
Buffalo Business First crunched newly released census data and found a 21% increase in the amount of 25 to 34 year olds with college degrees in Buffalo, between 2011, and 2016.
Ekua Mends-Aidoo has lived in Buffalo for over a decade. She came here for school and never left. The Syracuse native now works at Evergreen Health.
While she isn't considered a part of the 20% growth in college graduates the city has seen in the past five years, she does know why Buffalo is attractive to young professionals.
“My experience in Buffalo has been one in which I've made one connection that's led into many afterwards,” said Mends-Aidoo.
The former president of the Buffalo Jaycees Cameron Smith says affordability, opportunity, and community play a big roll.
“Pretty much once you come to our community, you are a part of our community,” said Smith.
Mends-Aidoo doesn't quite agree with that. She says Buffalo needs to do some work to be even more attractive for everyone.
“One of the things that could be made better is the focus on equity and the focus on inclusion. A lot of my friends that have moved here are very diverse and some have a lot of opportunities but others don't have the same opportunities,” said Mends-Aidoo.
Still, the numbers don't lie, instead of leaving, more and more bright minds are deciding to call Buffalo home.
“People are kind of coming back to be a part of something. They're looking for opportunity and Buffalo has it,” said Smith.
