The Top Cities for US Job Seekers in 2022

These are hectic times. The global pandemic keeps on keeping on, and inflation has challenged many households across the United States. However, the national unemployment rate is low compared to last year. In May 2022, it was 3.6%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; in May 2021, 5.8%.

It's a job seekers’ market right now, which may inspire some to take the financial risk to move to a new state or city. MoneyGeek compared 75 cities with labor forces of at least 500,000 to find the best and worst places for job seekers in the U.S. We analyzed five key economic factors to determine our ranking: wage and job growth, unemployment rate, labor force size and housing affordability.

• North Port, Florida, Austin, Texas, and Jacksonville, Florida, are the best cities for job seekers. Strong growth in jobs and wages combined with low unemployment put these cities at the top of the ranking.
• Honolulu, Hawaii, and New York, New York, rank as the worst cities for job seekers. Unaffordable housing and stagnant job growth put these cities at the bottom of our ranking.
• Orlando, Florida, is the best city for job growth, with a 9.2% increase in jobs from 2021 to 2022, marking a return of the leisure and hospitality industry in the region. Comparatively, Las Vegas, Nevada — another hospitality hub — has the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the country at 5%
• North Port, Florida, had the highest wage growth of any city at 16.8%, contributing to its ranking as the best city for job seekers overall.

The best cities for job seekers have impressive job and wage growth, low job competition and affordable housing prices; in other words, they provide solid employment opportunities and low-cost living. View MoneyGeek’s top 15 cities for job seekers in the U.S. below.

While the top cities on our list are affordable, growing and relatively uncompetitive, the worst cities for job seekers tend to have slower wage and job growth, less affordable housing relative to income and competitive job markets. These 15 cities ranked the lowest on our list.

We ranked the best and worst cities using four key factors — job growth, wage growth, unemployment rate and housing-to-income ratio — to better understand which cities best served those seeking employment and which fell flat. These factors all contribute to what makes a city excellent or less-than-ideal for job seekers; many cities excel in some areas but fall short in others.

To better understand how well or poorly cities performed in each of our ranking categories, MoneyGeek found the best (and worst) cities for each category. You can see those rankings — along with a brief description of their significance — below.

In 2022, the majority of the best cities for job growth in the last 12 months are concentrated in California, though Orlando, Florida, tops our list. Three of the five worst cities for job growth are located in the Southern U.S.

When wages grow, a city is doing something right. North Port, Florida’s 12-month wage growth tops the list at almost 17%. Meanwhile, McAllen, Texas, has had negative 2.7% wage growth since 2021.

Naturally, it’s a good sign for a job seeker if you see a city with low unemployment; ultimately, it means your odds of being hired at a new job should be pretty good. Minneapolis, Minnesota, is MoneyGeek’s standout in this category, with just 1.5% unemployment.

A city’s housing-to-income ratio roughly translates to its affordability; the less money you spend on rent and housing compared to your overall income, the more money you have for everything else. That’s why in Des Moines, your money goes much farther than it does in San Francisco. In Des Moines, monthly rent costs just under 22% of your income, on average. After paying for housing in San Francisco, you’ll have to spend more than half of your income (53%) on housing and be left with roughly 46% of your paycheck to cover all other expenses.

Relocating to a new city to find a job can be time-consuming and expensive, especially if this isn’t a cross-town journey and you’re moving out of state. If you’re going to move to a new city without having a job lined up, we recommend considering the following:

The data points presented are defined as follows:

• Total Score: The city’s overall score — with a higher score indicating more favorable conditions for job seekers — and calculated through the methods described in the Methodology section.
• Overall Growth (Jobs & Wages): The city’s overall growth in jobs and wages compared to all other cities on the list — with a higher score indicating higher overall growth — and calculated through the methods described in the Methodology section.
• Job Competition (Lower Is Better): The city’s overall job competition compared to all other cities on the list — with a lower score representing less competition — calculated through the methods described in the Methodology section.
• Housing Affordability: The city’s overall housing affordability compared to all other cities on the list — with a higher score indicating more affordable housing compared to average income — calculated through the methods described in the Methodology section.

To rank the best cities for job seekers, MoneyGeek calculated three factors using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and median rent rates reported by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, representing how good a city is for someone seeking jobs. The first factor is job growth, which incorporates the trend in jobs created and the trend in wages. The next consideration is job competition, which includes the unemployment rate as well as the overall size of the employment numbers reflecting greater absolute availability of jobs. The final factor is housing affordability, which captures the ratio of wages over rents to indicate an area's cost of living.

MoneyGeek used the following metrics in our analysis:

• Growth in Employment, Last 12 months: 22% weight (double weight)
• Growth in Employment, Last three years: 22% weight (double weight)
• Growth in Hourly Wages, Last 12 months: 22% weight (double weight)
• Unemployment Rate, Current: 11% weight (full weight)
• Size of Labor Force: 11% weight (full weight)
• Monthly Wages Over Monthly Rents Ratio: 11% weight (full weight)

The individual factors were ranked as follows:

• Overall Growth: Growth in employment last 12 months (44%), growth in employment last 36 months (22%), hourly wage growth 33%. In the overall ranking, this is 45% of the overall weight.
• Job Competition: Unemployment rate 78% weight, size of labor force 22% weight. In the overall ranking, this is 45% of the overall ranking.
• Housing Affordability: Wages over rents ratio, 100%. This is 10% of the overall ranking composition.

For the purposes of this analysis, only metropolitan statistical areas with labor forces larger than 500,000 were considered in the ranking.