RALEIGH – Raleigh and Durham rank among the nation’s top places to launch a career, according to a new report.

Those seeking their first professional opportunity are in high demand — the unemployment rate for workers aged 20-24 has dropped below 7%.

Of more than 180 cities across the nation, Raleigh ranked 15th and Durham ranked 18th for the relative market strength for early career opportunity in the WalletHub report released on Monday.

While Raleigh’s ranking improved from 17th a year ago, Durham’s ranking dropped from 9th to 18th, according to the data analyzed by WalletHub.

“The increasingly strong and diversified economic, educational and training opportunities throughout the Triangle are making our whole region an even more attractive place to start a career in almost any sector,” said Ryan Regan, vice president of economic development at the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, in an interview with WRAL TechWire.

Each of the cities analyzed were measured by 27 key metrics within two categories: professional opportunity and quality of life.  In one measure, called by the study “entrepreneur-friendliness,” both Durham and Raleigh ranked in the top 10.  But Durham’s ranking dropped from second overall in last year’s analysis to fourth overall in 2022, while Raleigh dropped one spot from seventh to eighth in this category.

Salt Lake City, Orlando, Atlanta, Austin and Seattle took the top five spots.

With an increasing number of positions available remotely, the Triangle is also among the best regions in the nation to move to for remote work, a 2021 study found.

Raleigh, Durham, among top 15 cities to move to for remote work roles

Raleigh’s strengths – and opportunities

According to the analysis, while Raleigh ranked 15th overall, the city was 8th when it came to measures of quality of life.  That’s led by a median annual income of $75,048, 10th in the study, which ranks higher than Austin, Texas, which had a median annual income of $74,854.

Raleigh also outperformed Austin, Texas, when it comes to housing affordability.  And while Raleigh’s projected population growth ranked fourth overall, Austin’s ranked first.

“Raleigh is a great place to start a career because our community strikes a compelling balance of strong quality of life and vast professional opportunities,” said Adrienne Cole, the president and CEO of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce in an interview with WRAL TechWire.  “The region’s diverse economy, thriving small business and start-up ecosystem and continued growth year over year means there is no shortage of amazing community amenities.”

But the city ranked 37th for “fun-friendliness,” according to the WalletHub data, and 27th for “family-friendliness.”

And in all measures of professional opportunity, Raleigh ranked 29th overall.

That’s due to the city’s ranking of 42nd for availability of entry-level jobs and 86th for the median-income growth rate, with a growth of just 4.42%.  And Raleigh also ranked 75th for the diversity of its workforce.

Still, said Cole, the region’s life science and technology industries continue to appeal to people at many career stages.

“The region fosters innovation in these sectors, and others, making us an attractive location for young professionals,” said Cole.  “In addition, we have vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem that attracts so many people.”

But the category where Raleigh ranked near the bottom of all measured cities is the region’s underemployment rate, which WalletHub calculated at 7.7%, ranking the city 172nd.

In 2018, Raleigh ranked 9th overall in the WalletHub analysis.

Study: Raleigh ranks 12th, Durham 25th, among 1,000+ cities as a best place to live

Durham’s strengths – and opportunities

Durham ranked 18th in the 2022 analysis, falling nine spots from its ninth place ranking in 2021.

What happened?

While Durham remained a strong performer in measures of professional opportunity, such as ranking fourth for monthly average salary and first overall for the city’s unemployment rate at just 3%, the city’s ranking dropped in other measures.

That includes year-over-year drops in measures of entry-level job availability, including falling from 85th to 128th in annual job growth rate as the city measured a rate of negative 0.27% in this year’s analysis.

But there is a Durham-based employer who’s hiring a bevy of entry-level jobs that do not require a degree.  That’s Fidelity Investments, which earlier this quarter announced plans to hire up to 1,700 new workers in North Carolina with many based in Durham.

“Given the uniqueness of the current labor market, many companies have re-tooled their recruitment tactics, and entry-level candidates are the main beneficiaries,” said Ryan Regan, vice president of economic development at the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, who noted that the Fidelity jobs are being intentionally targeted toward entry-level candidates from non-traditional career backgrounds, like hospitality workers who experienced job loss due to the pandemic.

And a strength of the region, said Regan, is the quality of educational pathways for early career professionals.

“It is hard to overstate what an asset our regional 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions are when it comes to getting recent graduates connected to regional job opportunities,” said Regan.  The WalletHub analysis did not include a quality of education as one of the key indicators studied for the rankings report.

Durham ranked 11th in a 2020 study by LinkedIn as a location to get a first job.