This Washington city is among the best places to start a career in US, report shows

Washington has one of the best cities in the country to start a career, according to a new report.

WalletHub released a report on May 16 for the “Best & Worst Places to Start a Career” in 2022.

Seattle ranked No. 5 on the list.

The finance company looked at 182 cities, including two of the most populated cities in each state. Then each city was weighed by two dimensions: professional opportunities and quality of life.

Those two dimensions were based on 27 metrics, each graded on a 100-point scale, such as availability of entry-level jobs, median annual income, housing affordability and unemployment rate.

Salt Lake City landed the No. 1 spot, and North Las Vegas ranked last.

WalletHub released its report just in time for recent college graduates looking to start their careers.

And it’s a “good time” to enter the job market because the unemployment rate is 6.9% for people aged 20 to 24, the company said.

Another Washington city also ranked highly.

Tacoma landed the No. 1 spot for the highest monthly average starting salaries, followed by Bridgeport, Connecticut; Austin, Texas; Durham, North Carolina; and Fort Worth, Texas.

The top 10 best cities to start a career:

1. Salt Lake City
2. Orlando, Florida
3. Atlanta
4. Austin, Texas
5. Seattle
6. Boise, Idaho
7. Miami
8. Tampa, Florida
9. Portland, Maine
10. Columbia, South Carolina

This story was originally published May 16, 2022 at 10:57 AM with the headline "This Washington city is among the best places to start a career in US, report shows."

Helena Wegner

McClatchy DC

Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.