DURHAM — Class of 2020, listen up. The Bull City might just be the place to launch your career.
Based on affordable rent, good starting salaries and available opportunities, Durham notched the No. 11 spot of LinkedIn’s list of “best cities to land your first job.” It boats a median monthly rent of $1,274 and median salary for starter jobs at $63,300.
St. Louis, Missouri, topped the list with a median monthly rent of $992 and median starting salary at $60,000, followed by Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2), Cleveland, Ohio (3) and Cincinnati, Ohio.
The analysis weaves together LinkedIn data on local jobs with comprehensive Zillow Rentals data on housing costs.
Source: LinkedIn
LinkedIn data scientist Brian Xu identified nearly 3 million U.S. LinkedIn positions starting in 2017-2019 most immediately following a member’s maximum educational attainment. Each “career starter” positions was associated with its job title, geography, and total median salary by U.S. metro, as reported by LinkedIn Salary. The average of median salaries for all “starter” positions is calculated in each U.S. metro and matched with the average of Zillow Rentals’ annual median housing rent data by U.S. metro from 2017-2019, includes all rental types and sizes. U.S. cities are ranked by lowest rent to salary ratio with a threshold of at least 15,000 “starter” hires over the 3 year span.
“Each city on the list offers a compelling blend of affordable housing — plus well-paying jobs that are within reach for recent grads,” wrote George Anders, LinkedIn’s senior editor at large.
