Job Hunting
Austin declared one of the 3 best cities to find a job in 2016
The new year has us thinking of new horizons, and if you're looking for a change in the career department, you're in the right place. According to the latest report from WalletHub, Austin is the third best city in the United States to find a job.
WalletHub used 17 metrics to analyze the strength of local job markets in the nation's 150 most populous cities. The various contributing factors were broken up into two main categories: job market and socioeconomic environment.
Austin claimed the No. 4 spot in the job market category, determined by factors such as a high monthly median starting salary ($3,147) and a low unemployment rate (3.7 percent). Austin also scored exceptionally well for disability friendliness, as 45.6 percent of residents with disabilities are employed.
The city's socioeconomic environment didn't fare as well. Ranked No. 15 in the socioeconomic category, Austin was docked for yearly transportation costs at a whopping $11,983 and the percentage of employed residents living in poverty (10.58 percent). Austin also earned poor rankings for housing affordability and industry variety, Nos. 90 and 125, respectively.
Plano, Texas takes top honors as the best place in the U.S. to find a job, followed by Irving at No. 4 and Amarillo at No. 13. Texas' biggest cities — other than Austin, of course — ranked lower on the list, with Dallas at No. 24, Houston at No. 25, San Antonio at No. 38, and Fort Worth at No. 45.