These Washington cities are among the best in the US to start a career, report says
College grads looking for a good place to start their career need look no further than Washington, where four cities have been ranked among the best in the country to do so, a new report says.
WalletHub released a report Monday that lists the best and worst cities to start a career. Seattle (No. 7), Tacoma (No. 46), Spokane (No. 71) and Vancouver (No. 89) all made the list.
The personal finance company compiled its rankings by evaluating 28 relevant metric in 182 cities — 150 of which are the country’s most populated — using two key dimensions: professional opportunities and quality of life.
Professional opportunities included the number of entry-level jobs available, average starting monthly salary, annual job growth rate and unemployment rate, among other factors. A city’s quality of life was evaluated through the median annual income, average length of the work week, average commute time, etc.
Seattle did best in quality of life, ranking at No. 4, but not as well in professional opportunities, for which it placed 24th. The city also had the second highest percentage of professionals between the ages of 25 and 34, just behind Boston.
Tacoma came in at No. 21 for professional opportunities and No. 111 in quality of life. It tied for first place for the highest average starting salary (adjusted for cost of living) with Houston.
Spokane ranked 48th in professional opportunities and 106th in quality of life, while Vancouver took the 70the spot in professional opportunities and 121st in quality of life.
The top 10 best places to start a career were:
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Orlando, FL
- Atlanta, GA
- Austin, TX
- Columbia, SC
- Charleston, SC
- Seattle, WA
- Overland Park, KS
- Durham, NC
- Scottsdale, AZ
This story was originally published May 18, 2021 at 4:08 PM with the headline "These Washington cities are among the best in the US to start a career, report says."