2 Alabama cities on list of top 30 places in U.S. to start a career

2 Alabama cities on list of top 30 places in U.S. to start a career

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If you’re a recent college graduate, you might want to head to North Alabama.

WalletHub recently looked at the best cities in the U.S. for people starting a career. The rankings were determined by comparing 182 cities – including the 150 most populated U.S. cities plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state – across two areas, professional opportunities and quality of life.

Included in the professional opportunities category were the availability of entry-level jobs, monthly average starting salary, annual job growth rate and unemployment. Factored into the quality of life score were things such as median annual income, average length of work week and educational attainment.

Only one Alabama city – Huntsville – made it into the top 20 places to start a career. Huntsville, best known for its military, space and defense industries, landed at number 18 overall. The city ranked 19th in professional opportunities but dropped to 45th for quality of life factors.

Birmingham was ranked 27th. It scored a 10 for professional opportunities but was 99th in quality of life.

Mobile ranked 93rd overall followed by Montgomery at 120.

According to WalletHub, the 10 best places to start a career in the U.S. were:
1. Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Orlando, Florida
3. Atlanta, Georgia
4. Austin, Texas
5. Columbia, South Carolina
6. Charleston, South Carolina
7. Seattle, Washington
8. Overland Park, Kansas
9. Durham, North Carolina
10. Scottsdale, Arizona