Revealed: The No. 1 City to Find a Job Job site Glassdoor released a ranking of the top 25 cities to work in.
By Nina Zipkin
When launching a company, you want to go where the opportunities are – and it turns out the best place to get started might not be where you think, according to a new ranking from career database Glassdoor.
Overseen by the company's chief economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, the job site conducted its first 25 Best Cities for Jobs survey. Raleigh, N.C. is No. 1 on the list followed by Kansas City, MO. and Oklahoma City.
Three elements were brought in to determine the final ranking: hiring opportunity (the ratio of job openings to the population), cost of living and job satisfaction. The satisfaction ratings were drawn from the employer reviews on the site over the last year, which includes a satisfaction scale of 1-5.
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Chamberlain said he found the cities that topped the list tended to fall into two categories -- growing mid-size tech hubs like Raleigh, N.C.; Austin, Texas; and Seattle and former industrial cities that have made the transition into being more service-oriented cities like Kansas City, MO.; Louisville, Ky.; and Oklahoma City. While the tech industry certainly made its presence felt in the ranking, he also noted opportunities for jobs in project management, accounting, telecom and healthcare were prevalent.
Looking ahead Chamberlain says "whatever industry is having a boom in that particular year that will shoot them way up in the rankings." For example had the ranking come out two years ago, Chamberlain noted that a city in North Dakota might have been at the top because of the fracking boom during that time -- but that would not be the case today because of falling oil prices.
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As for what business owners can take away from the list, Chamberlain says they should to look out for locations that offer affordable housing stock, appealing amenities for families and proximity to institutes of higher learning.
"[Business owners] might want to take a second look at some smaller and mid-size cities in America as good places to start a company, that they might have overlooked in the past…these can be great places to start a business because they offer relatively low overhead and a steady stream of skilled workers coming out of the universities."
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