Twin Cities Rank Among Best Metros For Starting A Career

Among the 150 largest cities in the United States, Minneapolis ranked fifth for starting a career, while St. Paul took the 12th spot on a new list.
Twin Cities Rank Among Best Metros For Starting A Career

A recently released list named both Minneapolis and St. Paul as standout cities for those looking to launch their careers.

WalletHub, a personal finance social networking site, issued its list of the best and worst cities in America for starting a career. After analyzing the 150 largest U.S. cities, it ranked Minneapolis fifth and St. Paul 12th.

WalletHub looked at 18 different metrics, from career opportunities and job growth to chances of finding a mate and the availability of leisure activities. It analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, health information platform Sharecare, job posting website Indeed.com, and the Equality of Opportunity Project.

While Minneapolis ranked highly overall, it didn’t claim the top spot for any particular metric. The city ranked 11th for quality of life and earned that same spot based on its arts, leisure, and recreation establishments per 100,000 residents. It didn’t fare as well for economic mobility, ranking 58th on that measure, or for its average rent for a two-bedroom apartment, earning the 82nd spot for that metric.

St. Paul, meanwhile, ranked fifth overall for highest job growth, but 36th for quality of life. It ranked 14th for professional opportunities—which includes things like number of entry-level jobs, workforce diversity, monthly median starting salary and current unemployment rate—beating out Minneapolis by 10 spots on that measure.

See the complete list, as well as a breakdown based on each metric, here.

Both Twin Cities have received attention lately for their appeal to young adult job seekers. In April, the metro area ranked ninth among top cities for Millennials. And back in January, Minneapolis and St. Paul appeared on other national lists of best cities for job hunters.