Recent College Grads Could Fare Well in These Four Markets

Some metro areas offer better opportunities for new college graduates than others.

With the greatest balance of wages, affordability and hiring, markets in the South are edging out the traditional tech and financial centers like San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle in terms of opportunity for recent grads thanks to strong science and technology employment metrics. Among the best markets for these young job seekers are Raleigh, North Carolina; Baltimore; Austin, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia, according to a new study by ADP Research Institute.

The study included 55 metro areas in the United States with at least one million residents and compared them based on annual wages, hiring rates and affordability. Some affordable areas with robust hiring but comparatively low wages include Greater Cleveland; Detroit; Louisville, Kentucky; and Tucson, Arizona. Meanwhile, some metros boast high wages but are less affordable, including the San Francisco Bay Area. Four markets fell in the sweet spot of offering favorable affordability, wages and hiring, according to the report.

At the top of the chart, Raleigh had middling affordability but wages above the 80th percentile and the best hiring rates for likely new graduates of all metros studied. A particularly desirable employment opportunity is the Research Triangle, situated between North Carolina State University in Raleigh, Duke University in Durham and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is the largest research park in the United States and is home to more than 300 companies predominantly in the science and technology centers, the report said.

Second to Raleigh is Baltimore, which boasts similar employment metrics. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics account for a large proportion of jobs due to the presence of top-tier universities such as Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland. The Greater Austin area ranks third thanks to robust tech-sector employment and a diverse economy, and metro Atlanta ranked fourth overall.

On the other end, recent grads may find a few markets challenging when starting their career. Rochester, New York, had the country’s slowest hiring rate, with wages below the 20th percentile and only middling affordability, landing it at the bottom of ADP’s ranking. While more affordable, the greater New Orleans market had similar low levels of hiring, with Fresno. California’s Central Valley is an example of a region that ranks low on all three metrics, said the report.