With the unemployment rate at a near 50-year low and employers expecting to hire 5.8 percent more college graduates from the Class of 2020 than from the previous graduating cohort, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2020’s Best Places to Find a Job as well as accompanying videos. To determine the strongest local job markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 31 key metrics. The data set ranges from job to employment growth to monthly average starting salary.
The 10 Best Cities for Jobs
- Scottsdale, AZ
- South Burlington, VT
- San Francisco, CA
- Austin, TX
- Fremont, CA
- Chandler, AZ
- Boston, MA
- Tempe, AZ
- Portland, ME
- Boise, ID
The 10 Worst Cities for Jobs
- Cleveland, OH
- Anchorage, AK
- Gulfport, MS
- Toledo, OH
- Huntington, WV
- Brownsville, TX
- Stockton, CA
- Newark, NJ
- Fayetteville, NC
- Detroit, MI
Key Findings
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- Charleston, SC had the most job opportunities, while Detroit, MI had the fewest.
- Reno, NV had the highest employment growth. Santa Clarita, CA had the lowest.
- Burlington, VT had the had the shortest average commute and work time, while New York, NY had the highest.
- Cedar Rapids, IA had the most affordable housing, while New York, NY had the least affordable housing.
Best vs. Worst
- Gilbert, Arizona, has the highest median annual household income (adjusted by cost of living), $89,903, which is 3.4 times higher than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the lowest at $26,281.
- San Jose, California, has the highest monthly average starting salary, $6,019, which is 3.2 times higher than in Brownsville, Texas, the city with the lowest at $1,876.
- South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest unemployment rate, 1.70 percent, which is 5.3 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 9.00 percent.
- Plano, Texas, has the fewest part-time employees for every 100 full-time employees, 32.86, which is 3.6 times fewer than in Burlington, Vermont, the city with the most at 118.23.
- Fremont, California, has the lowest share of workers living in poverty, 1.84 percent, which is 10.3 times lower than in Huntington, West Virginia, the city with the highest at 18.86 percent.
To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/