If you’re looking for a new job, head on over to Texas -- if you place any faith in employment analysis, that is.
The personal finance website WalletHub this week released data ranking the largest U.S. cities in relation to the quality and success of prospective job opportunities.
The report found three Southern California cities placing in the bottom 10 slots, with Los Angeles coming in dead last.
To create its rankings, WalletHub identified three general categories: ease of finding a job, cost of living, and salary and benefits.
It then broke the categories down into 13 metrics such as number of job openings, industry variety and time spent commuting -- the last of which evidently hampered results for congested cities such as Los Angeles and New York.
“Sometimes the grass truly is greener on the other side,” WalletHub’s John S. Kiernan wrote. “The Great Recession’s disproportionate impact on local economies spawned a 24-point unemployment rate difference between the most and least bountiful major U.S. cities.”
Many big cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago did not rank well in the 60-city report. Emerging markets and communities such as Mesa, Ariz.; Aurora, Colo.; and Tulsa, Okla. performed better.
Fort Worth, Texas ranks first place. Following close behind are Washington, D.C. and Tampa, Fla. Five Texas cities comprise the top 10, including Houston, Dallas and Austin.
Denver and Seattle also made notable appearances in top-tier slots.
The highest scoring SoCal city was Santa Ana, which notched the 24th spot. NorCal cities San Jose and San Francisco took 15 and 16, respectively.
Although Los Angeles did not fare well, other SoCal cities grabbed notable spots in individual metrics.
Anaheim and Santa Ana placed in the top five for most job openings per capita. Santa Ana ranked No. 3 in the fastest-falling unemployment category; it also placed fourth in the fastest-growing workforce category. Bakersfield ranked No. 1 in the same category.
Check out the full list below:
