There’s no doubt that it’s a difficult job market for young adults in their twenties. While the latest unemployment rate in the United States hovers around 8.3 percent, the rate for young adults between 20 and 24 years old is 13.5 percent and around 9.2 percent (PDF) for workers between 25 and 29 years old.
But for members of Gen Y, some cities are better than others when it comes to jobs.
PayScale, a company that provides salary data and analytics, conducted a survey of 500,000 Millennial, 19-29 year-old workers between July 2011 and July 2012. The survey focused on four areas: share of Gen Y workers, median wage for Gen Y, commute time for Gen Y, and wage change between 2009 and 2012.
Combining all these metrics, PayScale came up with the best cities for Gen Y workers:
1. Seattle
2. Houston
3. Minneapolis
4. Washington, D.C.
5. Boston
6. Dallas
7. New York
8. Tampa
9. (tie) Philadelphia
9. (tie) San Francisco
Seattle, the city which came out on top, had the largest wage change (4.4 percent), along with an above average median wage of $44,000, a 24 minute average commute, and a solid share of Gen Y workers (22 percent).
Of the top 10 cities, San Francisco has the highest median wage of $51,300, Minneapolis has the lowest commute time of 20.4 minutes, while New York and D.C. are tied with the highest percentage of Gen Y workers at 26 percent.
Some other interesting statistics from the survey include:
- $39,700 - the typical salary for Gen Y workers
- 63.3 percent - the percentage of Gen Y with a bachelor’s degree
- 3.2 percent - the percentage of Gen Y with a high school degree or no degree
- 47 percent - the percentage of Gen Y workforce at a small business (less than 100 people)
- 2 - median number of years with an employer
One metric not included in the rankings were the overall unemployment numbers for metro areas (PDF). Four cities in the top 10 — New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Tampa — have overall unemployment rates above the national average. The rest are below the national average, with Washington, D.C. leading the way with the lowest unemployment rate (5.7 percent) among the top 10.
You can see the full list and numbers from the survey here.
Photo: Flickr/lytfyre
(h/t Forbes)
