Cities covet young urban single professionals

National headlines teem with debates about old people (Medicare) and married people (will gay marriage change the institution?). But locally, officials are eyeing a very different demographic.

Tampa spent years turning Ybor City, an old cigar-making district, into a nightlife hub. Baltimore advertises its low living costs on the Washington subway. Memphis residents spearheaded a "Memphis Manifesto" — a statement on attracting creative individuals. In Louisville, the alumni club Bulldogs in the Bluegrass woos young Yalies to a home in the South.

All of these towns are competing for a breed of yuppie, the "Yuspie" — Young Urban Single Professional. These college-educated, never-married 25- to 39-year-olds are "the dream demographic for any human resources person," says Carol Coletta, Memphis-based host of the radio program Smart City. "That's why cities are beginning to think about these workers and how to attract them." Link