Location! Location! Location!

As the countdown to graduation begins, I am basically looking for a job anywhere and am going to take whatever I get offered, and wherever. But the wherever part is a little more complicated. I think that location is one of my main factors of where I will end up taking a job. As far as I'm concerned, your job is one part of your life and the other part is where you live and what you do outside of work. Therefore, you would want the perfect location. Whether it's a small or a big city that fits you, here are some of the best places to live in as of 2007, thanks to CNN. You never know, one of these places could be where you end up. Or maybe it could just jump start the job search and resume process.

SMALL CITIES

Fort Collins, Colorado
A city of a population of 128,000, Fort Collins has low-crime and good jobs in a high-tech economy, as well as a great outdoor life. Located in the Rocky Mountains, there are restaurants, night life and culture, and places for boating and swimming.

Naperville, Illinois
With a riverwalk that takes you around the city's downtown area, Naperville is a great place for people-watching and listening to concerts. Having more green space than most cities, there is a lot to offer when it comes to shopping, jazz, and restaurants.

Sugar Land, Texas
Although a very humid city, Sugar Land is one of the country's more diverse communties. Since the 80s, it has become less of a sleepy small town and more a place of good jobs and affordable housing.

Columbia/Ellicott City, Maryland
With a charming downtown, a large selection of townhomes and apartments, as well as a mall that they say has everything. There is also a major music venue and a 30,000-square foot arts center that the county runs.

Cary, North Carolina
With one of the country's lowest crime rates, Cary isn't far from Raleigh, and the software maker SAS is based there. 50% of its 10,000 jobs are in the area, and arts and crafts festivals are common visitors to the downtown area.

Overland Park, Kansas
Considered the secondd-biggest city in Kansas, there is a large job market as a third of Fortune 500 companies have offices in the area.

Scottsdale, Arizona
Although it is seen as a perfect place for golf-obsessed retirees, this Arizonan city offers year-round residents a wealth of job opportunities and recreation and a 113-mile area of paths and parks.

Boise, Idaho
With the rocky mountains serving as a beautiful backdrop, Boise's downtown area is filled with boutiques, restaurants, and a farmer's market ever Saturday in the summer. The capital city has a booming economy and plenty of government jobs.

Fairfield, Connecticut
Considered to be in the New York metro area, Fairfield also is home to two Fortune 500 companies and plenty to do in it's thriving downtown.

Eden Prairie, Minnesota
A hot spot for businesses, this onetime cow town now is home to a tech-industry.






BIG CITIES

Colorado Springs, Colorado
With a population of almost 370,000, HP and Intel are large employers in this large city as well as home to three bases and the Air Force Academy.




Austin, Texas
Claiming to have more music venues and restaurants per capita than any other U.S. city, Austin's nickname is Silicon Hills due to its large number of tech employers. And did you know that the city's unofficial motto is "Keep Austin weird."

Mesa, Arizona
With the cost of living half to what it is in San Francisco, this Phoenix outskirt, has turned into the latest "boomburb."

Raleigh, North Carolina
Named after Sir Walter Raleigh, this city is an incubator for cutting-edge tech firms and is described as a park with a city in it due to its amount of green space.

San Diego, California
Nicknamed, "America's Finest City," San Diego is now the No. 1 biotech area in the U.S.

Virginia Beach, Virginia
With 38 miles of waterfront, this up-and-coming military town has affordable homes and a growth of tech companies.

Omaha, Nebraska
Home to the world's largest indoor rain forest, Omaha is famous for steaks and Warren Buffet, as well as a booming downtown riverfront.

Columbus, Ohio
Considered Ohio's largest city, Columbus is a thriving college town for those of you who are not yet ready to leave college atmosphere behind.

Wichita, Kansas
With more sunny days in Wichita than in Daytona Beach or Honolulu, this big city is known as the "air capital of the world" with 46,000 aerospace jobs in the area.

New York City, New York
With a population of over 8 million people, the Big Apple has the third lowest crime rate among the 25 biggest cities in the U.S. The city that never sleeps has a little bit of everything for everyone and is definitely the place where I hope to be calling home after graduation in May. One of the many reasons why I heart NYC so much.

So check these places out, you never know, one day you could be enjoying the perks of one of these great cities.

Countdown to Graduation...40 days!