9. Portland, OR

All you have to do to see that Portland is hip is turn on the TV — IFC’s recent hit, Portlandia, paints the city as a haven for hipsters, artists and creatives. Startups are booming here — Fast Company named the “Silicon Forest” as one of the best places to launch a startup in 2010, and the city itself is a trusty friend to startups, giving them city-sponsored events, like the Portland Incubator Experiments, to help draw investors. We’re not surprised that this hip city added 12,000 jobs from November 2010 to November 2011 and has an unemployment rate of just 6.5 percent for 25-34-year-olds.