14 May Looking to Start Your Career?

With graduation season upon us and many employers still experiencing labor shortages, WalletHub has released its report on 2024’s Best & Worst Places to Start a Career. To help recent graduates launch their careers in the right place, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities based on 26 key indicators of career-friendliness. The data set ranges from the availability of entry-level jobs to monthly average starting salary to housing affordability.

Best Places to Start a Career

1. Atlanta, GA
2. Orlando, FL
3. Salt Lake City, UT
4. Tampa, FL
5. Pittsburgh, PA
6. Portland, ME
7. Charleston, SC
8. Austin, TX
9. Miami, FL
10. Knoxville, TN

Worst Places to Start a Career

173. Oxnard, CA
174. Jackson, MS
175. Detroit, MI
176. Newark, NJ
177. Cape Coral, FL
178. Yonkers, NY
179. Santa Clarita, CA
180. Pembroke Pines, FL
181. Bridgeport, CT
182. New York, NY

Best vs. Worst

• Austin, Texas, has the highest monthly average starting salary (adjusted for cost of living), which is three times higher than in Juneau, Alaska, the city with the lowest.
• Columbia, Maryland, has the highest median annual household income (adjusted for cost of living), which is 3.3 times higher than in Detroit, the city with the lowest.
• Oxnard, California, has the highest workforce diversity, which is 2.3 times higher than in New Haven, Connecticut, the city with the lowest.
• Miami and Hialeah, Florida, have the lowest unemployment rate, which is 5.9 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest.