With the unemployment rate at 6.7% due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s Best Places to Find a Job, as well as accompanying videos.
To determine the strongest local job markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 32 key metrics. The data set ranges from job opportunities to employment growth to monthly average starting salary.| Best Cities for Jobs | Worst Cities for Jobs |
| 1. South Burlington, VT | 173. New Haven, CT |
| 2. Columbia, MD | 174. Cleveland, OH |
| 3. Virginia Beach, VA | 175. Gulfport, MS |
| 4. Salt Lake City, UT | 176. Bridgeport, CT |
| 5. Boise, ID | 177. Las Cruces, NM |
| 6. Scottsdale, AZ | 178. North Las Vegas, NV |
| 7. Chesapeake, VA | 179. Brownsville, TX |
| 8. Seattle, WA | 180. Detroit, MI |
| 9. Colorado Springs, CO | 181. Shreveport, LA |
| 10. Plano, TX | 182. Hialeah, FL |
Best vs. Worst
- Gilbert, Arizona, has the highest median annual household income (adjusted by cost of living), $97,934, which is 3.5 times higher than in Newark, New Jersey, the city with the lowest at $28,227.
- San Jose, California, has the highest monthly average starting salary, $6,327, which is 3.1 times higher than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the lowest at $2,058.
- Fargo, North Dakota, and Bismarck, North Dakota, have the lowest unemployment rate, 3.00 percent, which is 6.9 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 20.60 percent.
- Fremont, California, has the fewest part-time employees for every 100 full-time employees, 29.52, which is 3.9 times fewer than in Burlington, Vermont, the city with the most at 115.76.
- Pearl City, Hawaii, has the lowest share of workers living in poverty, 1.35 percent, which is 14 times lower than in Huntington, West Virginia, the city with the highest at 18.96 percent.
