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

By CareerCast.com

The start of spring has heated up some job markets more quickly than others. Memphis (+14%), St. Louis (+13%) and Tampa (+12%) were the hiring activity winners for March with Los Angeles, Miami , San Diego , and Nashville all posting gains of +10% as well. Only three cities saw a loss in managerial hiring in March, Detroit (-7%), Milwaukee (-5%) and Cleveland (-3%), and all of them had had double-digit gains in February.

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 March:

10. Denver

Overall Index Rank: 10th

Ranking Change From Last Month: -2

Index Score: 73

City Fact:
Job activity in Denver increased by 6% in March, but is 1-point down year-over-year.

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9. New York

Overall Index Rank: 9th

Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0

Index Score: 74

City Fact:
Although New York City had a 7% increase in hiring activity in March, the Big Apple’s employment numbers have dropped 7-points since March 2011.

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8. Nashville

Overall Index Rank: 8th

Ranking Change From Last Month: +2

Index Score: 75

City Fact:
Nashville’s hiring increased by 7% in March, helping the Music City jump two ranks to eighth.

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7. Chicago

Overall Index Rank: 7th

Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0

Index Score: 83

City Fact:
Hiring activity in Chicago increased by 8% in March and 4-points since last March.

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6. Atlanta

Overall Index Rank: 6th

Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0

Index Score: 86

City Fact:
Job activity in Atlanta improved by 4% in March, but remained steady at 86 points year-over-year.

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5. Baltimore

Overall Index Rank: 5th

Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0

Index Score: 88

City Fact:
Baltimore hiring increased by 6% in March and 8-points from last March.

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4. Seattle

Overall Index Rank: 4th

Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0

Index Score: 105

City Fact:
Job activity in Seattle remains steady with a 1% gain from last month and a 1-point loss from March 2011.

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3. San Francisco

Overall Index Rank: 3rd

Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0

Index Score: 111

City Fact:
Hiring in San Francisco saw a 6% gain, but is still 16-points behind their level in March 2011.

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2. Boston

Overall Index Rank: 2nd

Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0

Index Score: 126

City Fact:
As this college town prepares to send a slew of graduates into the workforce, hiring in Boston only increased a marginal 1% in March.

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1. Washington, D.C.

Overall Index Rank: 1st

Ranking Change From Last Month: +/- 0

Index Score: 166

City Fact:
Although Washington D.C. only saw a 5% gain in hiring in March, the Capital region has the biggest influx of raw jobs than any other city on our list.

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