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January 2012: The 10 Best (and Worst) Cities for Finding a Job

January 2012: The 10 Best (and Worst) Cities for Finding a Job By CareerCast.com

The start of a new year was a turning point for hiring in many cities, some good and others not so good. San Diego (+14%) and Riverside (+11%) showed significant hiring gains in January, while Memphis (-27%), Cincinnati (-15%), Nashville (-13%), Louisville (-12%), Cleveland (-11%) and Pittsburgh (-10%) all reported double-digit losses.

Throughout 2011, the cities with the most per capita hiring included: Nashville (+19 points), Memphis (+13 points) and Houston (+10). The biggest losers in 2011 were San Diego (-11), Washington, DC (-8), New York City (-7) and Milwaukee (-7).

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 January:

  • 10. New York

    Overall Index Rank: 10th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 65
    City Fact: Job activity in New York City dropped a point in January and is 8-points lower than January 2011.
    1 of 10

  • 9. Nashville

    Overall Index Rank: 9th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: -2
    Index Score: 66
    City Fact: After several months of positive hiring gains, Nashville saw a 10-point loss in job activity in January. Year-over-year Nashville is still crooning happy tunes with a 9-point gain.
    2 of 10

  • 8. Denver

    Overall Index Rank: 8th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +1
    Index Score: 66
    City Fact: Hiring activity in Denver increased by 3% in January and propelled the Mile High City to a 2-point increase since January 2011.
    3 of 10

  • 7. Chicago

    Overall Index Rank: 7th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +1
    Index Score: 71
    City Fact: Although hiring in Chicago rose 4-points in January, employment activity in the Windy City has declined by 2-points from last January.
    4 of 10

  • 6. Atlanta

    Overall Index Rank: 6th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 83
    City Fact: Hiring activity in Atlanta increased by 5% in January after the holidays. Year-over-year, Atlanta has had a gain of 4-points.
    5 of 10

  • 5. Baltimore

    Overall Index Rank: 5th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 83
    City Fact: Although the job activity in Baltimore rose by 1-point since December, the city jumped 7-points in employment activity since 2011.
    6 of 10

  • 4. Seattle

    Overall Index Rank: 4th
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 101
    City Fact: Hiring in Seattle continues to bounce back and forth every month. This month Emerald City saw a 3% gain in employment activity to land at 101. This is a 4-point gain in employment from 2011.
    7 of 10

  • 3. San Francisco

    Overall Index Rank: 3rd
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 111
    City Fact: San Francisco’s employment activity jumped 5-points to 111. This is the same level that San Fran was at last January.
    8 of 10

  • 2. Boston

    Overall Index Rank: 2nd
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 129
    City Fact: Hiring in Boston bounced back after a slow down in December with a 6-point gain. Beantown is up in employment activity by 4-points from last year
    9 of 10

  • 1. Washington, D.C.

    Overall Index Rank: 1st
    Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0
    Index Score: 143
    City Fact: After a significant drop in hiring activity in December, Washington, D.C. bounced back with a 3% gain in jobs. Although the nation’s capital has securely maintained their number 1 rank on our list, they had one of the most per capita hiring losses (-8) in 2011.
    10 of 10

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