WalletHub’s 2019 Best & Worst Places to Start a Career

With graduation season upon us and employers planning to hire nearly 17 percent more graduates from the Class of 2019 than they did from the Class of 2018, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2019’s Best & Worst Places to Start a Career as well as accompanying videos.

To help recent graduates launch their careers in the right place, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities based on 29 key indicators of career-friendliness. The data set ranges from availability of entry-level jobs to monthly average starting salary to housing affordability.

Best Places to Start a Career			Worst Places to Start a Career
1	Salt Lake City, UT		173	Jackson, MS
2	Pittsburgh, PA		174	Newport News, VA
3	Atlanta, GA		175	Toledo, OH
4	Orlando, FL		176	New Haven, CT
5	Austin, TX		177	Pearl City, HI
6	Minneapolis, MN		178	Oxnard, CA
7	Seattle, WA		179	Bridgeport, CT
8	Raleigh, NC		180	Hialeah, FL
9	Boston, MA		181	Montgomery, AL
10	Denver, CO		182	Shreveport, LA

 

Best vs. Worst

• Tacoma, Washington, has the highest monthly average starting salary (adjusted for cost of living), $3,816, which is 2.8 times higher than in Honolulu and Pearl City, Hawaii, the cities with the lowest at $1,382.
• Gilbert, Arizona, has the highest median annual household income (adjusted for cost of living), $89,903, which is 3.4 times higher than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the lowest at $26,281.
• West Valley City, Utah, has the highest workforce diversity, which is 2.3 times higher than in New Haven, Connecticut, the city with the lowest.
• South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest unemployment rate, 1.70 percent, which is 4.8 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 8.10 percent.

Surprisingly, my city of St. Louis was #14 on the list. This is because we have been reinventing ourselves as a more entrepreneurial, incubator hub that is attracting companies who treat their employees well. I am all for that.

You can see the full report HERE.