We’ve officially hit graduation season, which means the class of 2022 will be entering the workforce and starting their careers. But what should graduates keep in mind as they consider their next move? It may come down to location.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers estimates that employers will hire over 30% more graduates from the class of 2022 than the class of 2021. On top of that, well over eight million workers have quit their jobs this year, meaning there is likely to be an abundance of openings as companies scramble to fill roles. Still, where these candidates decide to relocate could have an impact on their livelihoods.
“The biggest factors in deciding which cities are the best places to start a career are the variety of professional opportunities, earning potential and accessibility to things like healthcare and public transportation,” says Jill Gonzalez, an analyst at WalletHub, a personal finance management company. “The cities that rank at the bottom don't have a lot of entry-level job openings, they experienced drops in the number of existing jobs and have very low income growth rates, less than 4%.”
Read more:
WalletHub examined 180 U.S. cities, scoring each location out of 100 points based on two categories: professional opportunities and quality of life. This meant examining metrics such as the number of available entry-level jobs, monthly average starting salaries, share of workers in poverty, housing affordability, average commute time and the number of fully vaccinated residents. This put cities like Atlanta, Austin and Salt Lake City (which took the number one spot) at the top, while cities like New York and Detroit settled at the bottom.
Here are the 10 best and worst cities to start a career, according to
