WalletHub list of best cities for grads disses Boston and Providence (2024)

Real Estate News

Portland, Maine, was the only New England city that cracked the top 10.

By Eileen Woods

June 27, 2024

If you want to start your career off on a high note, move to Atlanta.

That’s what a report WalletHub released back on May 13 advised. The online financial site “compared the relative market strength and overall livability of more than 180 US cities,” ranking them according to 26 metrics ranging from “the availability of entry-level jobs to the average monthly starting salary to housing affordability.”

“Transitioning out of school and into the workforce can be a difficult and stressful process, but certain cities make things a lot easier than others,” Cassandra Happe, an analyst for the site, said in the report. “The best cities for starting a career not only have a lot of job opportunities but also provide substantial income growth potential and satisfying work conditions. It’s also important to consider factors such as how fun a city is to live in or how good of a place it is for raising a family, to ensure life satisfaction outside of your career.”

Atlanta has one of the highest growth rates (8.9 percent) in the median household income, which is already pretty high, the study reported. It also cited the city’s 4-out-of-5-star rating by Glassdoor for entry-level jobs and job satisfaction. The city also ranked fourth for the most fun cities and was named the best city for singles.

These were the top 10 cities the site recommended to recent college grads on the job hunt:

Notice anything missing?

Despite its robust educational, health care, and financial sectors, Boston didn’t even crack the top 20. The city that welcomes about 150,000 students each year, according to government reports, came in at No. 25, with a score of 54.42. It ranked 32nd for job opportunities and 28th for quality of life. (Portland, Maine, slid in at Nos. 11 and 10, respectively, in those categories.)

Providence — home to Providence College, Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and other top institutions — came in a dismal 52nd, with 50.32 points overall and a sad No. 96 ranking for quality of life.

Here’s how some other New England cities fared: South Burlington, Vt. (No. 36); Nashua (54); Lewiston, Maine (58); Manchester, N.H. (61); Burlington, Vt. (No. 67); Worcester (81); Warwick, R.I. (135); and Bridgeport, Conn. (181).

New York City, the place where if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, came in dead last.

These were the communities ranked the best and worst:

Monthly average starting salaries (adjusted for the cost of living)

For entry-level jobs

For affordable housing

Some of the other 26 categories WalletHub considered were: share of workers in poverty, underemployment rate, commuter-friendly jobs, average commute time, projected population growth, and single-friendliness. It used datasets from the US Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the US Conference of Mayors, among others.