Hometown Glory
Austin is still one of the best U.S. cities for job seekers
We are totally biased here, but Texas is a pretty great place to live, at least as far as jobs andhousing are concerned. And the latest from NerdWallet confirms it, as Texas claims six of the 20 spots on the 2015 list of best cities for job seekers.
Fort Worth takes the No. 2 spot on the list. Joining Cowtown in the top 10 is Austin, which takes the No. 7 slot. (There are so few lists Austin doesn’t make.) Laredo comes in at No. 12, followed by Corpus Christi at 15, Lubbock at 18 and Irving at 20.
To come up with the top cities to find employment, the nerds crunched the numbers for the nation’s 100 largest cities using the following data:
- November 2014 unemployment rates based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data
- Working-age population growth from 2009-2013 based on U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey
- Affordability, i.e., median income for full-time workers compared to median gross monthly rent
The methodology differed slightly from 2014’s, when Austin was No. 1, Fort Worth was No. 3, San Antonio was No. 10, Dallas was No. 13, Arlington was No. 16 and Houston was No. 18. For example, working-age population growth vs. overall population growth, and median rent vs. monthly homeowner costs.
If all of this sounds familiar, well, it is. Another online hub, WalletHub, also put out a list of best cities to find jobs, and Plano landed at No. 10, according to that criteria. Irving and Fort Worth also made the top 20, at Nos. 12 and 16, respectively, while Austin was No. 37.
Lubbock, Corpus Christi and Laredo didn’t do so hot, coming in at Nos. 45, 57 and 94, respectively, out of 100.