If you corralled newcomers to Boston and asked them why they chose to move to the city, you would find that two answers made up the overwhelming majority of responses: education and employment. Over 250,000 people in Greater Boston are studying at universities and colleges in the area at any given time, and many of these people go on to work with Boston area employers in fields like medical radiation protection and finance. The following is just a brief overview of what Boston has to offer in these two crucial fields.

If your kids are still young, don't wait until they're ready for university to move to the Boston area. Boston has some of the oldest and best schools in the nation, so taking an academic English course here will benefit your child more than taking one almost anywhere else. Forbes magazine has ranked Boston's public school system as the best of any large city in the country, and over 80% of students go on to graduate from high school. With private, charter, magnet, and public schools to choose from, there's bound to be one that's the right fit for your child.

Of course, it's the universities that Boston is really known for. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are the kings of the heap, located across the river in the leafy suburb of Cambridge. Boston proper also has numerous colleges and universities researching everything from new ways to make art to the effects of water treatment chemicals on the population. Some of the best known include the University of Massachusetts, Boston University, Northeastern University, Suffolk University, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the New England School of Law.

The colleges and universities churn out so many well educated students and attract so much attention from groundbreaking research that for many companies, it's the logical place to set up shop. There are MIT students working in the technology field dreaming up new ways to improve PPC campaigns, medical graduates from Harvard working at Massachusetts General Hospital, and finance graduates U Mass crunching numbers at Fidelity Mutual. Some of the other big names in the Boston employment scene include Little, Brown publishers, Gillette, and the Bank of America.

With such a healthy economy, large population, and a wide variety of interest groups to appeal to, that also makes Boston a great place to own your own business. You might choose to found a biotech company, an investment firm, or even a cafe to provide university students with much needed coffee. Either way you'll find a receptive environment and a large pool of students that will make hiring a snap. You can even take a course at one of the many colleges to learn the basics of business first.