America's best city for graduates REVEALED: The state capital that beats NYC and San Francisco for YOUR career kickoff

Recent graduates person flocked to New York City's skyscrapers and San Francisco's tech startups to kickstart their careers.

Those 2 hubs stay reliable places to participate nan occupation marketplace — but location are amended metro areas, a caller study shows.

Raleigh, successful North Carolina, has classed arsenic nan champion spot for graduates to motorboat their careers.

That's because nan authorities superior has a beardown economy, decent jobs, and comparatively inexpensive lodging and different surviving costs.

Baltimore, Austin, Atlanta, and Charlotte rounded retired nan apical five, successful ADP Research Institute's study.

New York City and San Francisco scored successful nan apical ten, but were downgraded by their eye-watering rents and surviving costs.

'Areas pinch nan top equilibrium of wages, affordability, and hiring aren't stereotypical tech and financial centers specified arsenic San Francisco, San Jose, aliases Seattle,' researchers said.

'They're places successful nan South pinch beardown subject and exertion employment, including Raleigh, Baltimore, Austin, and Atlanta.'

The study comes arsenic immoderate 4 cardinal group postgraduate from assemblage this year, and astir of them commencement looking for activity and a spot to laic down roots.

The jobs marketplace is beardown correct now, but is tighter for nan skilled positions that graduates seek.

Researchers analyzed information connected much than 4 cardinal 20- to 29-year-olds astatine immoderate 27,000 employers, from January 2019 done April 2024.

They focussed connected nan 55 US metro areas pinch much than 1 cardinal residents.

Raleigh took nan apical spot because it is comparatively inexpensive — nan mean monthly rent is $1,577 for a 950 sq ft apartment.

That's little than half what graduates typically salary for digs successful New York City aliases San Francisco.

Also, location are plentifulness of decent jobs up for grabs, acknowledgment successful portion to Raleigh's alleged 'research triangle,' which includes its 3 universities and astir 300 subject and tech companies.

Salaries for 20-something workers successful Raleigh are astir $52,000 per year.

Earnings are not arsenic precocious arsenic they are elsewhere, but Raleigh remains competitive, ranking successful nan apical fifth, nan study says.

It besides has a pleasant climate, small-town vibe, decent restaurants, and is simply a bully spot to commencement a family.

The Baltimore area came successful 2nd place, acknowledgment to its reasonable wages and precocious hiring complaint for graduates.

The Maryland metropolis has ample openings successful science, technology, engineering, and mathematics jobs owed to nan beingness of Johns Hopkins, nan University of Maryland and different apical tier institutions, researchers found.

Fast-growing Austin classed successful 3rd place.

The Texas boomtown has a large-and-growing exertion sector, pinch awesome hubs for Tesla, Google, Dell, Apple, IBM, Meta, and different starring companies.

Ben Hanowell, nan group's investigation director, said caller graduates would do good to deliberation extracurricular nan container and commencement their occupation hunt beyond New York and nan West Coast exertion hubs.

'There are metro areas wherever you could bid precocious wages arsenic a caller grad, but they're not affordable and hiring isn't robust, truthful that's nan trade-off you're making,' Hanowell told CBS News.

He pointed to Seattle, Washington, wherever wages are higher than 87 percent of nan 55 biggest US metro areas.

But it has a debased hiring complaint compared to different cities and is comparatively expensive, pinch rent averaging astatine $2,200 for a 700 sq ft apartment, according to Rent Cafe.

'The median costs is an estimated $56,000, but erstwhile that's adjusted for nan costs of living, it feels for illustration $49,000,' said Hanowell.

'That's 1 measurement to look astatine these trade-offs.'

The study besides indicated nan cities graduates would do good to avoid.

Of each awesome US metro areas, Rochester, successful upstate New York, came last.

The rust loop metropolis is comparatively affordable, but debased wages and a deficiency of jobs make it a bad spot to commencement a career.

Virginia Beach, New Orleans, Fresno, and Portland rounded retired nan worst 5 cities for job-seeking graduates.