From Forbes:
To determine the best and worst cities in which to embark on one’s professional future, personal finance site WalletHub evaluated the 150 most populous cities in America across 19 metrics designed to factor in the major professional and personal considerations facing young people beginning post-collegiate life.
In terms of professional opportunities, WalletHub considered the number of entry-level jobs in a city per 10,000 residents, monthly median starting salary, annual job growth rate, unemployment rate and entrepreneurial activity. To evaluate quality of life, factors including median annual income, arts- and leisure-focused locations per 100,000 residents, housing costs and percentage of the population with a bachelor’s degree were taken into account.
At the top of a list dominated by Texas cities is Irving. The city has a population nearing a quarter million people and scored first place for professional considerations and 38th (out of 150) for quality of life considerations.
Grand Prairie and Austin round out the top three. Though Grand Prairie comes in 49th for quality of life considerations, it takes second place for professional opportunities and offers the fourth highest starting salaries (tied with Garland) of all the cities on this list, adjusted for cost of living.
