Forget New York and LA: These U.S. cities have the best job markets in 2025
Whether you’re getting your career started or looking for a change, knowing where to look can help lead not just to better job prospects but also lifestyle.
When job hunting, thinking about where to look for job openings can be just as important as who the employer is. Certain locations provide not only more opportunities but also chances to have a better lifestyle and work-life balance.
With that in mind, SmartAsset crunched the latest US Census Bureau numbers across six metrics for 348 cities in the United States with a population of 100,000 or more to find the best job markets in the nation.
The financial technology company looked at the unemployment rate, housing costs as a share of income, income growth, percentage of workers with employer-sponsored health insurance, median commute time and percentage of remote workers in the community to establish its ranking.
The best US job markets in 2025
According to SmartAsset the best job market in the United States is Bend, Oregon. This was thanks to a combination of its “relatively low unemployment” of 3.1% and high income growth of more than 44% over the past three years.
Furthermore, due to a relatively short commute time of 16 minutes on average residents have more time to enjoy the multiple outdoor activities on offer around the West Coast city. Its work-life balance is additionally boosted by the fact that over 27% of population in Bend work remotely.
Coming in second overall on SmartAsset’s ranking is Richmond, Virginia where incomes have risen by nearly 50% over the past three years, the highest of all job markets analyzed. Another standout was Santa Clara, California, sixth best job market overall, where 88 percent of workers have employer-sponsored health insurance.
Here are the top ten best job markets in the US in 2025:
- Bend, Oregon
- Richmond, Virginia
- Seattle, Washington
- Bellevue, Washington
- Carmel, Indiana
- Santa Clara, California
- Cary, North Carolina
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Westminster, Colorado
- Sunnyvale, California
Among the top twenty, residents of St. Louis spent the lowest percentage of income on housing, less that 27 percent. The Gateway to the West, ranked 14th, has a median income of $59,986 of which $1,793 per month goes to housing costs on average.
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