Major cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai are still the top choice for college graduates, according to a poll.

The survey, conducted by ChinaHR, an online human resources services provider, found that 63 percent of students choose to stay in a first-tier city for at least a year after leaving university.

Of those cities, Beijing is the most attractive. A total of 26 percent of graduates nationwide said that they want a job in the capital, while 72 percent of those who studied in the city said they want to stay.

Half of those studying in Guangzhou said they would choose to stay, with 3.8 percent of those from colleges nationwide saying they would like to move to the southern metropolis.

This year, only 38 percent of students who attended Shanghai universities said they would stay, compared with 72 percent last year.

In explaining the decline, Liu Xingyang, a senior consultant for ChinaHR, said that second-tier cities such as Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi and Ningbo, which are near Shanghai, are now attracting more talent because of lower living costs, more job opportunities and better wages.