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August 2011: The 10 Best (and Worst) Cities for Finding a Job

Best Cities to Find a Job By CareerCast.com

The job market heated up in August for many cities across the nation, while a few traditionally sun-soaked cities saw a hiring cool down as summer came to a close. Louisville, which saw a gain of 11% in managerial hiring in August, was the biggest winner this month, followed by Detroit with a 10% gain, Hartford (+9%) and Nashville (+8%). On the downside, San Diego’s hiring activity dropped 10%. Losses were also seen in Tampa (-6%), Seattle (-5%), Dallas (-4%) and Riverside (-4%).

To determine the cities with the 10 best and worst job markets each month, the CareerCast.com/JobSerf Index surveys 30 different major metro areas across the U.S. for per capita job availability. Rather than simply reporting the cities with the most and least jobs, the Index measures the number of job openings relative to population. This gives a more complete picture of how easy (or difficult) it is to get a new job in each metro area.

Want to know where the jobs are? These metro areas made up the 10 best cities to find a job in August:

  • 10. New York

    Overall Index Rank: 10th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: -1
    Index Score: 80
    City Fact: After a fairly stagnant and slow summer of hiring, New York dropped one rank to tenth place despite a 4% gain in employment activity.
    1 of 10

  • 9. Denver

    Overall Index Rank: 9th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: -1
    Index Score: 80
    City Fact: Hiring in Denver remained relatively flat in August with only a 1% gain in activity. Despite this fact, Denver still lost a ranking spot to Nashville.
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  • 8. Nashville

    Overall Index Rank: 8th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +2
    Index Score: 82
    City Fact: After an 8% jump in hiring activity, Nashville isn’t singing the blues this month. This surge in activity catapulted the Music City two ranks to eighth place on our list.
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  • 7. Baltimore

    Overall Index Rank: 7th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: -1
    Index Score: 88
    City Fact: After a nice bump in hiring in July, Baltimore’s job activity dropped 15-points in August. This drop in activity was enough to drop B-More a rank to seventh on our list.
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  • 6. Chicago

    Overall Index Rank: 7th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +1
    Index Score: 90
    City Fact: Chicago held tight to the sixth spot on our “10 Best Cities for Finding” a Job list with a 5% gain in job activity. Hiring in the Windy City is regaining all the steam lost over the summer months.
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  • 5. Atlanta

    Overall Index Rank: 5th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 91
    City Fact: The only thing rising in Atlanta is the temperature as hiring activity sunk 1% in August. Atlanta is just 3-points above employment levels from one year ago.
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  • 4. Seattle

    Overall Index Rank: 4th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 109
    City Fact: Seattle saw a 5% drop in employment activity this month, after a 12-point gain job activity in July. Overall, Seattle is 17-points ahead since August 2010.
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  • 3. San Francisco

    Overall Index Rank: 3rd
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 114
    City Fact: After a 5-point gain in July, employment activity in San Francisco dropped by 1% to land at 114 in August. This Golden Gate city has also only seen a 5-point gain in hiring since August of 2010.
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  • 2. Boston

    Overall Index Rank: 2nd
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 150
    City Fact: Hiring in Boston continues to steadily climb with a 3% gain this month to land at 150. This is just one-point away from Beantown’s highest level of 151 in April.
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  • 1. Washington, D.C.

    Overall Index Rank: 1st
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    171:
    City Fact: Moving the employment activity needle 9-points this month, the Washington, D.C. area continues to dominate the “Best Cities to Find a Job” list for the 44th straight month. With the government as one of the top employers in the Capitol Region, this beltway city seems to coast through any employment climate.
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