No mention of Chicago? I'm shocked.
The Cities Where 20-Somethings Are Still Getting Hired
Young professionals are launching careers in Southern cities such as Raleigh, Austin and Atlanta. ‘I don’t want to be broke in a sexy city.’
Raleigh, N.C., topped a list of cities with the most promising prospects for recent graduates.
By Ray A. Smith and Sanvi Bangalore, WSJ
July 29, 2024 5:30 am ET
Go South, young grad.
In a frustrating season for college graduates looking for entry-level jobs, some smaller cities, especially in the South, stand out for their brisk hiring, good salaries and affordability.
Raleigh, N.C.; Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Atlanta; and Charlotte, N.C., rank as the top five most promising locations to find work for newly minted college graduates, according to a new study by payroll provider ADP. Researchers weighed cost-of-living-adjusted wages in 55 U.S. metro areas against hiring rates for people who typically have a four-year degree.
Salt Lake City, Seattle and Portland, Ore., were among cities that ranked in the bottom 10 due to their slower hiring rates and lower wages once cost of living is factored in.
Employers have scaled back white-collar hiring, especially for entry-level positions. As companies invest more money into artificial intelligence, the number of professional roles for less-experienced college graduates is expected to shrink, said Shanda Mints, a vice president who focuses on talent acquisition analytics at Korn Ferry, an organizational consulting firm.
A surge of new restaurants and businesses in Baltimore has helped make it ‘an easier product to sell’ to college grads, says Greater Baltimore Committee CEO Mark Anthony Thomas. PHOTO: SHURAN HUANG FOR WSJ
“There’s tons of entry-level candidates. It’s just that the demand is not there,” she said.
The unemployment rate for American workers between 20 and 24 is now higher than it was before the pandemic, according to the latest federal data. The monthly hiring rate for people with little to no previous experience is down to 13% from a peak of 20%, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis of hiring rates. But there are regional bright spots.
Still hiring: cities in the South
The highest-ranked cities for new college graduates tend to have a concentration of technology, health and financial firms, as well as several universities, said Ben Hanowell, ADP Research’s director of people analytics.
Top five metro areas in theU.S.for young college-degreed professionals
Metro areas ranked across the average of wages, hiring and affordability. The further a point on the triangle is from the center, the better its performance in that metric.

The top metro area, Raleigh, is part of the Research Triangle, nicknamed for the area’s mix of research institutions, including Duke University, and science and technology companies. Gilead Sciences, Cisco Systems and MetLife have opened locations in the area and recently expanded their young professional recruiting efforts, company officials said.
New graduates should consider where they are most likely to find a job and an affordable life, even if they might earn less there than they would in more-expensive cities, Hanowell said.
“Right now, that’s the cities in the South,” he said. “Consider places that are more like Raleigh, where you’re not going to get paid quite as much but the area is more affordable and you’re more likely to find a job.”
Ryan Garwood, 23 years old, graduated in May 2023 from the University of San Diego and lived near San Jose before taking a job in Austin as a business development manager for a software company.
Enticed by the lower cost of living in Texas compared with California, Garwood said he can comfortably pay Austin rent each month with a single biweekly paycheck. Living in San Francisco or New York would take up the majority of his salary, he added.
Another Austin bonus: The pace of life isn’t too fast. “It’s very refreshing,” he said. “Austin is what San Francisco and New York were to a couple generations past.”
‘Broke in a sexy city’
Local business leaders are trying to sell young professionals on the energy and social offerings of their cities.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber this spring launched a campaign aimed at new grads and professionals under 40 to promote the area’s diverse career paths, cultures and social scenes. T. Rowe Price recently joined with the Baltimore Orioles to hold networking mixers at the Oriole Park at Camden Yards baseball stadium for young workers.
Austin’s job picture and housing prices have been cooling after the city experienced one of the nation’s most notable pandemic booms, but its job growth continues to outpace the national average. Rents, down more than 7% since last July, combined with more new apartments, are also making the city more affordable for 20-somethings, said Eric Hale, manager of education and workforce policy at the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Gabrielle Myers, 23, moved to Charlotte after graduating from Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., two years ago to take a job as an analyst for Ernst & Young. She recently quit and said she is optimistic about finding another full-time accounting or finance role in the city.
Hiring in Charlotte is still brisk in finance, tech and advanced manufacturing, said Rob Horton, chief marketing officer of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. Bank of America, which has 19,000 employees in the area, says recruiting students from across the state has been a priority.
Charlotte has no shortage of events to meet people and find entertainment on weekends, Myers said, yet it was small enough to not overwhelm her: “It was the best city to move to out of college.”
Cost of living played a big role in 30-year-old Yusuf Benallal’s decision to relocate to Charlotte earlier this year. He spent his 20s in more-expensive cities such as Miami and Washington, D.C., after getting a bachelor’s degree in applied math. During a two-year stint in Miami, he said his rent nearly doubled. His spending on food and gas in Charlotte is about half what it was in Miami.
“I don’t want to be broke in a sexy city. I want to be thriving in a mediocre city,” said Benallal, who now owns and manages a used-car dealership while he tries to get his software startup off the ground.
“My money went so much further in Charlotte,” he said.
Write to Ray A. Smith at Ray.Smith@wsj.com and Sanvi Bangalore at sanvi.bangalore@wsj.com
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