Best Places for New College Grads, 2012

Though the economy is showing signs of life, the job market for new college graduates is still extremely tough. A daunting figure – three million new grads competing for one million jobs – has been widely reported, as has the fact that more than half of recent grads are unemployed or under-employed. It's also been widely and incorrectly reported that 85 percent of grads are moving back in with mom and dad. The correct figure is actually 40 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. That's nothing new, really. The period immediately after college has always been one of flux.

Before all you grads get too down, remember that the economic prospects look considerably better over the long run. Americans with a college degree face a substantially smaller risk of being and staying unemployed than those without diplomas. A college degree returns 15.2 percent a year, more than double the return to stock market investments since the 1950s, and five times more than the return to bonds, gold, or government bonds, according to a Brookings Institution study. Straight out of college, the average 22-year-old college grad can expect about 70 percent more in wages and salary than a peer with just a high-school degree. And the job market for graduates seems to be improving, albeit slowly, according to recent accounts.