The season for tossing caps and tassels is here again, and graduates across the country just might be wise to launch their professional lives in the City of Atlanta, according to an annual analysis.

To determine its Best & Worst Places to Start a Career list for 2024, personal finance website WalletHub compared 182 U.S. cities based on 26 key indicators of “career-friendliness,” ranging from monthly average starting salary, the availability of entry-level jobs, and housing affordability, among other factors.

For the second year running, the City of Atlanta finished No. 1.

Atlanta landed pole position in the key “professional opportunities” ranking. The city also notched the seventh highest quality of life rating overall, with all cities finishing higher in that category being much smaller, including No. 1, Austin. (Sorry, Big Apple enthusiasts: New York City finished dead last, once again, in the overall ranking.)

Over the past year, Atlanta has either held steady or improved in each of the following categories but one (marked with an asterisk*), according to WalletHub’s analysis:   

Starting Your Career in Atlanta (1 = best; 91 = average):

  • 40th – Projected Population Growth (2046 vs. 2016)
  • 16th – Monthly Average Starting Salary (Adjusted for Cost of Living)
  • 15th – Entry-Level Jobs per 100,000 Working-Age Population*
  • 18th – Annual Job Growth Rate (Adjusted for Population Growth)
  • 60th – Unemployment Rate
  • 15th – Percent of Adults Ages 25+ with at Least a Bachelor’s Degree
  •  Overall Rank: 1st

WalletHub’s study included the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state.

In Georgia, analysts considered the City of Atlanta proper but excluded all other cities in the metro.

However, Augusta (No. 128) and Columbus (No. 130) also made the list.

The study's Top 10 U.S. cities for college graduates right now. WalletHub

Atlanta’s relatively high median household income (nearly $79,000) worked in the city’s favor. Ditto for one of the highest growth rates in median household income among U.S. cities, which WalletHub tabulated for Atlanta at 8.9 percent annually.  

“In addition,” analysts wrote in summary, “Atlanta has a lot of job opportunities at companies that are rated at least 4 out of 5 stars on [job search and review platform] Glassdoor, along with plentiful entry-level jobs, and people have a high rate of satisfaction with their jobs.”

In other positive news for the city, WalletHub has previously ranked ATL the sixth-best large city for starting a business. And for younger grads still looking to soil wild oats, Atlanta has also ranked fourth on lists of both the most fun cities and best cities for singles.

The bottom 10 of the annual WalletHub analysis in 2024. WalletHub

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