Skip to main contentA logo with &quat;the muse&quat; in dark blue text.
Advice / Job Search / Finding a Job

The 5 Best Cities for Young Job Seekers Are Pretty Surprising (Sorry Not Sorry NYC)

city lights
Shutterstock

Many young, college-educated people look to the major cities to start their careers—New York, Boston, San Francisco, even Seattle and Miami, hoping to score an awesome job and live the big city life.

But a recent Forbes study shows that these may not be the optimal places to look when you’re searching. The publication’s research spanned 100 metro areas, taking into consideration average salary for professionals ages 24 to 34, businesses per capita, cost of living, and then some—all in order to figure out the ideal cities for young job seekers.

And the results are kinda surprising—turns out that you don’t have to (and maybe shouldn’t) move to the popular cities to kickstart an awesome career.


Intrguied? We thought you might be! So we rounded up job listings in all the cities mentioned above. There’s no harm in looking and just seeing what’s out there. Who knows? It could be your dream job.