WalletHub ranks cities based on job market strength
Knoxville is the highest ranked in the Volunteer State followed by Nashville, Chattanooga, and Memphis.
WalletHub, the personal finance website, recently compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 32 key indicators of job-market strength. Those factors range from job opportunities to employment growth to monthly average starting salary.
How did Tennessee’s major metros rank? Knoxville was the highest ranked at #97 followed by Nashville at #114, Chattanooga at #141, and Memphis at #182.
The top five cities, in order, were San Francisco; Columbia, MD; Orlando, FL; San Jose, CA; and Pittsburgh. PA. Cities from the South that placed high included Plano, TX (#9); Tampa, FL (#16); Austin, TX (#20); Atlanta (#24); Charleston, SC (#31); Raleigh, NC (#36); Jacksonville (#48); Charlotte (#51); Durham (#63); Huntsville, AL (#80); and Columbia, SC (#82).
How were the rankings derived?
- WalletHub used two key dimensions – “Job Market” and “Socio-economics.” The company assigned a heavier weight to the former, considering the fact that factors in that category most heavily influence a job seeker’s decision in terms of relocation for employment.
- Then, WalletHub evaluated the two dimensions using 32 relevant metrics with each graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for job seekers.
- Finally, the company determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.
The full rankings can be found here.
