Your chances of finding work depends a lot on location. If you’re looking for a new job with the right combination of pay, affordability and opportunity, these cities might be your best bet.
Your chances of finding work depends a lot on location. If you’re looking for a new job with the right combination of pay, affordability and opportunity, these cities might be your best bet.
With unemployment hovering at around 3.9%, nearly pre-pandemic levels, employers are hustling to hire workers, making it an attractive market for those looking for a new job and more money.
But some places are better than others for job hunting. Workers looking for a better job and better pay may need to expand the search and look to a new location, including those cities where expenses are lower.
“Most workers early in their careers should cast a very wide net and apply to many different jobs, including outside their local area,” says John Winters, a professor of economics at Iowa State University. But one of the potential barriers to relocating and finding new opportunities is high housing prices in many urban areas, Winters says.
Building more homes could be the answer. “Increases in housing supply can keep prices from rising so fast and give opportunity for more people to live in areas with great opportunities for working and starting new businesses.”
To rank the best cities for getting a job, WalletHub compared 182 cities — including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state — across two key dimensions, job market and socioeconomics. They scored the job market metric on factors like salary data, benefits, number of job opportunities, job security, job satisfaction, disability friendliness and share of workers in poverty in each city. Socioeconomics includes median income, commute times, transit, housing costs, crime rates, and family friendliness.
Each city was scored then ranked. The data used for the ranking comes from variety of public and private sources, including the BLS, U.S. Census Bureau, FBI, Glassdoor, and others.
These are the best cities for job hunters.
1. Columbia, Md.
Job market rank: 2Socio-economics rank: 1Columbia, Md. is one of the six cities with the highest median annual income, adjusted for cost of living.
2. Salt Lake City
Job market rank: 1Socio-economics rank: 23Salt Lake City ranks No. 4 for most job opportunities.
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3. San Francisco
Job market rank: 3Socio-economics rank: 6San Francisco is among the top six cities for highest monthly starting salary, adjusted for cost of living.
4. Portland, Maine
Job market rank: 10Socio-economics rank: 45. Austin, Texas
Job market rank: 8Socio-economics rank: 15Photo: Shutterstock
6. Orlando
Job market rank: 4Socio-economics rank: 247. Seattle
Job market rank: 11Socio-economics rank: 98. Scottsdale, Ariz.
Job market rank: 7Socio-economics rank: 17Scottsdale is one of the six cities with the highest median annual income, adjusted for cost of living. It’s also one of six cities with the lowest unemployment rate.
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9. San Jose, Calif.
Job market rank: 9Socio-economics rank: 37San Jose is among the top six cities for highest monthly starting salary, adjusted for cost of living.
10. Nashua, N.H.
Job market rank: 17Socio-economics rank: 1011. Plano, Texas
Job market rank: 12Socio-economics rank: 32Plano is one of the six cities with the highest median annual income, adjusted for cost of living.
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12. Pittsburgh
Job market rank: 19Socio-economics rank: 1313. South Burlington, Vt.
Job market rank: 27Socio-economics rank: 714. Columbia, S.C.
Job market rank: 5Socio-economics rank: 98Columbia ranks No. 1 for the most job opportunities.
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15. Overland Park, Kan.
Job market rank: 28Socio-economics rank: 8Overland is in the top five cities for most affordable housing.
16.Chandler, Ariz.
Job market rank: 16Socio-economics rank: 1Chandler is one of the six cities with the highest median annual income, adjusted for cost of living.
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17. Boise, Idaho
Job market rank: 24Socio-economics rank: 1418. Warwick, R.I.
Job market rank: 23Socio-economics rank: 16Shutterstock
19. Charleston, S.C.
Job market rank: 14Socio-economics rank: 6320. Des Moines
Job market rank: 21Socio-economics rank: 49Des Moines is in the top five cities for most affordable housing.
21. Huntsville, Ala.
Job market rank: 6Socio-economics rank: 122Supercarwaar/Wikipedia
22. West Valley City, Utah
Job market rank: 22Socio-economics rank: 4623. Tempe, Ariz.
Job market rank: 30Socio-economics rank: 20Shutterstock
24. Minneapolis
Job market rank: 58Socio-economics rank: 525. Madison, Wis.
Job market rank: 72Socio-economics rank: 2Madison is one of six cities with the lowest unemployment rate.
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26. Spokane, Wash.
Job market rank: 20Socio-economics rank: 76ESB Professional / Shutterstock
27. Atlanta
Job market rank: 15Socio-economics rank: 9728. St. Louis
Job market rank: 13Socio-economics rank: 11929. Raleigh, N.C.
Job market rank: 42Socio-economics rank: 22Shutterstock
30. Tacoma, Wash.
Job market rank: 26Socio-economics rank: 84