Graduation season is in full swing, and millions of budding professionals across America are turning their tassels and setting out to land their first full-time gigs. Growing Midwest and Southern cities are outshining hubs like New York and L.A. as the best destinations for new workers.
Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama, is the top U.S. metropolitan area for new graduates to find work on the college-level career path, according to a recent study from ADP. The region offers the best opportunity for entry-level professionals, based on annual wages ($59,004) for young workers’ jobs that require “considerable preparation,” hiring rates for talent in their 20s (2.8%), and the area’s affordability. Birmingham dethroned Raleigh, North Carolina, after its two-year run at the top, now ranked fifth, boasting an average annual wage estimate of $56,372 and a hiring rate of 2.8%.
Graduates would also have luck settling in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida, to jump-start their careers. The beachy metropolitan area, which jumped from 26th place up to second this year, is turbocharging hiring at 3.4% and paying its young workers an average of $49,817 a year. And while San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California, may rank poorly in terms of affordability, its sky-high average wage of $70,708 and strong hiring rate of 2.7% crowned it the third-best place for new graduates.
Most notably, Midwest and southern metro areas are outranking some of the most buzzy hotspots for college graduates.
Columbus, Ohio, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, also made the top 10 thanks to their strong hiring rates above 3% and affordable cost of living. And they even rank higher than glitzy cities; San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California, and New York-Newark-Jersey City, spanning New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, came in eighth and tenth place, respectively. They might exhibit a strong hiring rate and higher annual wages for young professionals, but when adjusted for affordability, early-career salaries actually decline in value.
Why cities in the Midwest and South are becoming Gen Z hotspots
Graduates have long flocked to big cities brimming with job opportunities, but a raging cost-of-living crisis is complicating the value proposition. If new graduates can bear being stuck in a shoebox apartment, New York and San Francisco are still hotspots for hiring. However, smaller hubs might be an even better career move—and they’re becoming increasingly popular with Gen Z.
Omaha, Nebraska, was named one of the top 10 best big U.S. cities for recent college graduates based on starting salaries and housing metrics, according to a recent report from Glassdoor and Redfin. Some of the flashiest metropolises didn’t rank on the list thanks to their outsized housing costs; and although the Midwest city’s average annual early-career earnings are a bit lower than others at $59,123, the average price of a starter home is just $195,000.
“I’m currently helping a young couple move from North Carolina to Omaha,” Justin Gomez, a Redfin Premier agent in Omaha, said in the report. “People move here from many different parts of the country because there’s a great community for the younger crowd…And with a lot of homes selling for under $300,000, young grads actually have a shot at purchasing a house.”
Texan cities like Dallas, Houston, and Austin also made the cut. As more Fortune 500 companies have been flocking to the southern tax-friendly state, they’re bringing junior-level jobs with them—and the cities have no shortage of entertainment for Gen Zers. Meanwhile, buzzy spots New York City and Los Angeles didn’t even place on this year’s list.
Plus, regional cities offer Gen Zers a rare shot at settling down in a house of their own. Seven of the 10 most accessible metros for young homeowners are in the Midwest, according to a 2025 ConsumerAffairs analysis. Omaha was ranked among the highest for young homebuyers, with 18.2% of homeowners under 35 years old; other cities include Grand Rapids (21.1%), Des Moines (19.8%), Wichita (18.4%), and Cincinnati (17%). The trend largely stems from relatively low housing costs, and young workers are seizing the chance to own the roofs over their heads, rather than rent indefinitely in big cities.
The top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas for recent graduates
Here are the top 10 American metropolitan cities for recent graduates, based on wages, affordability, and hiring, according to a recent analysis from ADP.
- Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California
- Columbus, Ohio
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California
- Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, Tennessee
- Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North Carolina-South Carolina
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania
