Young people should consider moving to these affordable '18-hour cities' to start their careers

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New York City and San Francisco aren't the only cities for recent grads to launch their careers.

There are plenty of other options that are more affordable without sacrificing opportunity. In fact, "18-hour cities" — cities that offer a similar lifestyle to a major city like New York, but don't run on a 24/7 basis or have the same high costs — are emerging as hot spots.

"For millennials, 18-hour cities hold a lot of appeal," personal finance site Credit Sesame reports. "Their economies are typically expanding at a steady clip since it's less expensive for businesses to set up shop, which means there are lots of jobs to be had. Because they're secondary markets, rent prices in these cities aren't through the roof."

In a new report, Credit Sesame identified the top 25 "18-hour cities" and then ranked the top ten based on five factors: median household income, median rent price, unemployment rate, average student loan balance, and average credit card balance.

Read on to see which "18-hour-cities" cracked the top 10. We also included the median household income, the median rent for total households (the median rent is general and not specific to 1- or 2-bedroom apartments), and the unemployment rate, all of which Credit Sesame drew from the US Census Bureau.

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10. Atlanta, Georgia

Median household income: $46,439

Median rent price: $969 per month

Unemployment rate: 12.9%

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9. Charlotte, North Carolina

Median household income: $53,274

Median rent price: $902 per month

Unemployment rate: 10.8%

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8. Portland, Oregon

Median household income: $53,230

Median rent price: $945 per month

Unemployment rate: 9.4%

See the rest of the story at Business Insider