Starting A Career? Denver Is The Place To Be
DENVER (CBS4) - It's graduation season and hundreds of thousands will enter the job market to find employment in a competitive society. So it might be useful to know which cities have the most opportunity for starting a career.
A new report by WalletHub analyzed 150 of the United States' largest cities to determine the strength of each job market. It also assessed the attractiveness of a city's social scene and factors that are important to job market entrants.
The study included 19 measurements relevant to professional opportunities and quality of life. Some of the factors used were the number of entry-level jobs available (per 10,000 inhabitants), economic mobility, percentage of the population with a bachelor's degree or higher, and housing affordability.
Denver ranked as the fourth best city in the U.S. to start a career. It was beat by three Texas cities: Irving as the first, Grand Prairie as the second, and Austin as the third. Ranking behind Denver are another handful of Texas cities.
Though Irving ranks first for professional opportunities, it ranked 38th for its quality of life. Denver came in 13th for its quality of life, and eighth for its professional opportunities.
Aurora also ranked high, coming in 18th out of 150 cities. The study says Aurora's professional opportunities metric is 12th, and quality of life is 47th.
The worst city in which to start a career may not be so surprising: Detroit. Other bottom 10 cities include Fresno, California; Toledo, Ohio; Augusta, Georgia; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Denver ranked as the sixth best city of 150 for having a young population (percentage aged 25 - 34). It also ranked as 30th for its unemployment rate, and 43rd for workforce diversity. Of 150 cities, Denver ranked 18th for its monthly median starting salary, which was adjusted for cost of living.
Comparisons between the results can often say more than a ranking. In Los Angeles, the number of arts, leisure and recreation establishments per 100,000 people is seven times higher than in Laredo, Texas. In Detroit, the unemployment rate is five times higher than in Lincoln, Nebraska. And the workforce diversity of Oxnard, California is double that in Durham, North Carolina.
To see the full rankings, click here.
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