NYC is often referred to as the City of Dreams, but if your dreams involve starting a new career then, well, NYC may not be the city for you after all.
WalletHub recently set out to find the best and worst places to start a career in 182 different US cities, and New York City came in dead last–as in NYC is the worst place to start a career.
In order to determine the ranking, WalletHub looked at the professional opportunities and quality of life in each of the 182 cities, which included the 150 most populated US cities and at least two of the most populated cities in each state. Both factors were then based on 26 relevant metrics–such as Monthly Average Starting Salary and Average Length of Work Week–and then graded on a 100-point scale.
Cities with a higher weighted average across all metrics represented the most favorable conditions for job-market entrants and vice versa.
As for NYC, we scored a mere 33.14, ranking us at #182, aka last place. We also ranked #182 for Professional Opportunities specifically and #171 for Quality of Life.
Part of the reason why NYC is the worst place to start a career has to do with the amount of, or lack thereof, entry-level jobs available.
When looking at the availability per the working-age population of 100,000, NYC has the fewest amount of entry-level jobs available out of any other city in the ranking.
To put things in perspective that’s a 24x difference compared to Charleston, WV, which has the most entry-level jobs available.
Even more, out of every city on the list NYC has the least affordable housing–which, unfortunately, isn’t news to us.
NYC was recently named the wealthiest city in the world for 2024, and it was also previously crowned the most expensive city in the country and is home to 18% of the country’s most expensive zip codes.
Now, pair that with the fact that rents in NYC are rising 7x faster than wages–accounting for the largest gap in the country–and we can totally see why the city’s lack of available entry-level jobs can be a serious issue.
So, what does this mean for recent graduates entering the job market for the first time, or anyone in general looking to venture down a brand new career path? Well, unfortunately, NYC may not be the place for you.
One thing you should do though: give our friends over in Atlanta, Georgia a call. With a total score of 65.84–landing them in the #1 spot overall, #1 for Professional Opportunities, and #7 for Quality of Life–Atlanta is the best city for those looking to start a career.
We do hear they have good peaches!
The full study can be found here.