For recent college graduates preparing to enter the workforce, the best place to launch a career isn’t just about landing the highest salary—it’s about finding a city where that first paycheck stretches further. New analysis from payroll management firm ADP reveals which U.S. metros offer the most promising opportunities for young professionals, ranking cities based on annual wages, hiring rates, and affordability. In 2025, Raleigh tops the list for the second straight year, buoyed by strong hiring and reasonable costs.
The ranking reflects the strength of the state’s Research Triangle region, which draws an influx of job seekers, a relatively affordable cost of living, and strong hiring, the analysis said. According to the study, Raleigh’s median annual salary of $55,580 rose to $$56,721 on an affordability-adjusted basis, and it had the highest hiring rate of all markets studied at 4.2%.
In second place was the Milwaukee metro area, which saw its hiring rate jump from 2.3% to 3.7% this year, propelling it past Baltimore and Austin. Milwaukee’s median annual salary was $49.208, which rose to $51,508 on an affordability-adjusted basis. Baltimore came in third, Austin in fourth and Birmingham, Alabama, took the fifth spot.
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On the other end of the spectrum, Virginia Beach was the most challenging market for new grads, with a hiring rate of just 2% and an affordability-adjusted annual wage of $38,889. Last year, the Virginia Beach and Norfolk region was ranked second-worst for graduates.
Salt Lake City had the nation’s lowest hiring rate at 1.8 %, although its affordability-adjusted annual wage was $50,421, making it the second-worst market for new grads. Hartford, Connecticut, also lost ground, with its hiring rate slowing by a basis point to 1.9% and showing slight improvement in wages or affordability. Fresno, California, and New Orleans also ranked among the bottom five but their hiring rates both improved from last year, said ADP.
Overall, most metros remained fairly stable and didn’t experience substantial changes in their rankings compared to last year. The biggest mover up in the ranks was the greater Phoenix market, which rose from the 20th percentile last year to the 87th percentile this year. Meanwhile, Atlanta lost the most ground, falling from the 94th percentile rank to the 24th percentile rank as its hiring rate fell from 2.9% to 2.2%.
Among the most promising markets for new college graduates last year and this year is the Louisville metro area, which includes Jefferson County in Kentucky and surrounding counties in both Kentucky and Indiana. While the region still offers robust hiring and affordability compared to other metros, its hiring rate fell from 2.7 percent to 2.4 percent, according to the report. Detroit’s hiring rate continues to be strong, but it has lost ground to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in terms of job availability, according to the report. The hiring rate in Tulsa improved from 2.4% to 2.6%.
Some metros have high wages but lower hiring rates, which illustrates the tradeoff graduates face. In Seattle, for example, the median age increased by just $2,000 to $58,225, but its hiring rate remained relatively low at 2.2%. New York’s annual median wage rose from $60,000 to $61,154, but its hiring rate dropped from 2.6% to 2.5%, the analysis found. The median wages in Seattle and New York are significantly higher than the median wages for all observed metros, at $49,252.
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Kristen Smithberg
Kristen Smithberg is a Colorado-based freelance writer who covers commercial real estate, insurance, benefits and retirement topics for BenefitsPRO and other industry publications.
