(THE CENTER SQUARE) – Ohio’s five major cities all rank in the bottom half of best places around the United States to find a job, according to a recently released study.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, compared 180 cities across the country using 32 key metrics, including job opportunities, employment growth and monthly average starting salary, to determine the best cities to find employment.
"All five Ohio cities included in the report rank in the bottom half in terms of finding a job. This is mainly because they all have low monthly average starting salaries, high unemployment – as high as 5.9% in Cleveland and low job security,” said Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst. “The cities also lack engaged workers, rank low when it comes to full-time employment and have large percentages of workers in poverty. The high annual transportation cost is another factor that contributed to the Ohio cities' low ranking.”
Cincinnati was Ohio’s top ranked city in the report, landing at 118 out of 180. It also ranked 178th in employment growth. Cincinnati did rank seventh in job opportunities and 17th in industry varieties.
Columbus landed at 126 overall, followed by Toledo at 162, Cleveland at 167 and Akron at 170.
Columbus ranked 38th in employment outlook but was 164th in employment growth and 131st in unemployment rate.
Cleveland was 39th in job opportunities and 76th in employment growth but was 119th in average starting salary and 176th in unemployment rate.
The report ranked San Francisco as the best city for jobs, followed by Columbia, Maryland; Orlando; San Jose, California; and Pittsburgh. The bottom cities were Memphis, Tennessee; Augusta, Georgia; Brownsville, Texas; Gulfport, Mississippi; and Columbus, Georgia.
