It’s a great time to be in the job market. America has the lowest unemployment rate at 4.1 percent which is the lowest its been in 17 years. There is a 4 percent increase in hires since the previous graduating class.
For job seekers, there is a good chance of feeling optimistic. Job creation was a whole 6 percent lower in 2017 than the previous year. There is a likelihood that this would improve in the current fiscal year. Currently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that unemployment will stabilize at 4.1 percent and the National Association of Colleges and Employers looks to hire more than earlier years.
WalletHub did a study on 182 cities that included 150 highly populated cities across the US. These states were determined based on two key dimensions such as Job Market and Socio-economics. There is a higher weight for the Job Market category and these include factors that influence the job seeker’s decision in terms of relocation for employment purposes.
To determine the top cities, a metric was based on a 100-point scale which scored based on which were the most favorable conditions for job seekers from all cities. The cities were then weighed based on average across all metrics to figure out the final score and in order to help rank the cities.
US cities are based on 26 metrics which includes employment growth, median salary, job opportunities, unemployment rate, commute time, average work rate, housing cost and access to internships. These metrics fall into two key dimensions which include job market and socioeconomic environment. With a greater weight based on different assigned metrics which are under the job market category.
20 Top Cities To Find Your Dream Job
Ranking for cities was based as follows:
Job Market
- Job Opportunities
- Employment Growth
- Monthly Average Starting Salary
- Unemployment Rate
- Underemployment Rate
- Industry Variety
- Employment Outlook
- Job Security
- Job Satisfaction
- Retirement Access & Participation
- Access to Employee Benefits
- Presence of Work-Share Programs
- Full-Time Employment
- Access to Internships
- Apprentice-Trainee Jobs as Share of Total Jobs Posted on Glassdoor.com
- Share of Workers in Poverty
- Disability-Friendliness of Employers
Socioeconomics
- Median Annual Income
- Average Work & Commute Time
- Transit Accessibility of Workplace
- Housing Affordability
- Annual Transportation Costs
- Safety
- Family-Friendliness
- Dating-Friendliness
- Recreation-Friendliness
Table of Ranking Scores
| Rank | City | Total score | Job Market Rank | Socioeconomic rank |
| 1 | Chandler, Arizona | 67.66 | 3 | 9 |
| 2 | Scottsdale, Arizona | 66.29 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | San Francisco, California | 66.06 | 2 | 43 |
| 4 | Peoria, Arizona | 65.86 | 1 | 56 |
| 5 | Gilbert, Arizona | 65.35 | 4 | 34 |
| 6 | Plano, Texas | 64.69 | 6 | 16 |
| 7 | Portland, Maine | 63.06 | 10 | 12 |
| 8 | Irvine, California | 62.86 | 11 | 13 |
| 9 | Madison, Wisconsin | 62.44 | 21 | 1 |
| 10 | Boston, Massachusetts | 62.37 | 7 | 42 |
| 11 | Austin, Texas | 62.29 | 12 | 25 |
| 12 | Fargo, North Dakota | 62.10 | 14 | 18 |
| 13 | Orlando, Florida | 61.98 | 9 | 36 |
| 14 | Bismarck, North Dakota | 61.61 | 13 | 39 |
| 15 | Columbia, Maryland | 61.28 | 30 | 4 |
| 16 | Tampa, Florida | 60.78 | 18 | 22 |
| 17 | Seattle, Washington | 60.70 | 28 | 11 |
| 18 | Salt Lake City, Utah | 60.65 | 17 | 28 |
| 19 | Fremont, California | 60.04 | 15 | 66 |
| 20 | Tempe, Arizona | 59.79 | 32 | 15 |
From the table, you can find that Chandler in Arizona tops the list and this is based on its high scores in the market and the favorable socioeconomic conditions for its workers. In Chandler the largest employers are Intel. There are four other cities in the top 10 which includes Scottsdale, Peoria, and Gilbert. A major reason for this is the booming healthcare industry and the rise in the elderly population in the region. The highest ranking city which is outside Arizona is San Francisco. Even though it is 43rd for its expensive socioeconomic environment, the city by the bay area has a thriving job market that helped boost it to the top of the list.
You will also notice that some of the major towns are in Florida, Franklin, Tennessee, and Texas while the others are in Central Florida like Tampa and Orlando. Apart from being a vacation destination, Orlando has been attracting more technology-based businesses and has several job roles in aerospace, aviation, and the defense industry. There are also modeling and simulation, interactive entertainment, microelectronics and digital media. Also, you can find healthcare, life sciences, and medical care technologies.
Take Advantage of the Boom Period
Despite the hurricanes that hit the coastline in 2017, it worked as a major factor that would affect Florida’s boomtown in the coming years. This is the huge influx of people from Puerto Rico based on the impact of the hurricane that destroyed much of the region. There is also a slow recovery in this region. More people coming into the market could push the prices of homes up and this will raise the unemployment rate higher to a certain degree. There are more than 250,000 people that arrived in Florida from Puerto Rico between October and December of 2017.
Look For Jobs in a Boomtown
The most important thing to do in this period is to look for opportunities in a boomtown. Take it up as a challenge and be prepared to make tasks and tips by putting effective strategies together to make things work in your favor. Moreover, to get your job, you should:
- Read and research about the region of interest to come across opportunities that you could be a good fit. Review websites, job listings and learn how actively is the company growing and what positions you could consider filing for
- Take your pick of the boomtowns and consider all parameters that would help you gauge better if another town would be more suitable for the future. As a newcomer, you should look for areas of interest and the growing industries of interest and where they are hiring and which companies you should approach
- Make sure that your resume is updated and that it is professional in every way possible. There should not be amateur phrases like ‘references available upon request.’ Also, ensure that you talk about your achievements and how you made a difference in terms of figures in one year. Therefore, you should add keywords as a lot of employers use automation to look through the millions of resumes that could help you be a good match and step forward to landing the job
Avail of your unemployment if you are willing to work and haven’t found work or between jobs. But, before you do so, you should check to determine your unemployment eligibility, what are kinds of benefits you could receive with the benefits calculator and calculate the base period too. Stay up to date with your skills and constantly work towards finding employment. Most of all, there’s no better time than now to be applying for work in the job market!