With graduation season upon us and employers planning to hire 31.6% more graduates from the Class of 2022 than they did from the Class of 2021, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2022’s Best & Worst Places to Start a Career, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary.
To help recent graduates launch their careers in the right place, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities based on 27 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 | Worst Places to Start a Career |
| 1. Salt Lake City, UT | 173. Anchorage, AK |
| 2. Orlando, FL | 174. Long Beach, CA |
| 3. Atlanta, GA | 175. Pembroke Pines, FL |
| 4. Austin, TX | 176. Newark, NJ |
| 5. Seattle, WA | 177. Casper, WY |
| 6. Boise, ID | 178. Detroit, MI |
| 7. Miami, FL | 179. Santa Clarita, CA |
| 8. Tampa, FL | 180. New York, NY |
| 9. Portland, ME | 181. Shreveport, LA |
| 10. Columbia, SC | 182. North Las Vegas, NV |
Best vs. Worst
- Tacoma, Washington, has the highest monthly average starting salary (adjusted for cost of living), $4,724, which is 2.8 times higher than in Juneau, Alaska, the city with the lowest at $1,669.
- Columbia, Maryland, has the highest median annual household income (adjusted for cost of living), $104,486, which is 3.5 times higher than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at $30,271.
- Oxnard, California, has the highest workforce diversity, which is 2.4 times higher than in New Haven, Connecticut, the city with the lowest.
- South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest unemployment rate, 1.50 percent, which is 8.1 times lower than in Detroit, Michigan, the city with the highest at 12.10 percent.
