The top 10 cities to find a job in 2019

19 Feb 2019

The next step for international students after graduation is to find a job. Not just any position but an amazing one with a great organisational culture, respectable salary and a workplace located at an exciting, vibrant city.

Glassdoor helps you suss out the first two factors, but not the third.

HousingAnywhere’s Top 100 Cities for finding a Job – 2019 ranking attempts to make this search for an international city to work in a little easier with its analysis of hundreds of cities using city-level public data. They are then ranked by six factors: number of available jobs, salary levels, cost of living, startup score, quality of life, open-mindedness.

The top 10 cities are below, while the full list can be found here:

Munich, Germany, has the highest score overall. The Bavarian capital is the place to be for quality of life and open-mindedness, continuing its winning streak in these categories after urban lifestyle magazine Monocle named it the most livable city in the world last year.

Munich is also the top-ranking for the “Startup Score” category. Wired notes biotech, insurance and the Internet of Things are key sectors for startups here so entrepreneurial fresh grads might want to keep an eye out for opportunities in this.

America’s innovation hub San Francisco is second overall, thanks to high average salaries of its workers there (it’s the highest among all cities analysed) and the high number of available jobs. This expensive city scored, unsurprisingly, a zero for cost of living.

So while the prospect of pinning down a glamorous job in tech (the three highest-paying positions in San Francisco, as self-reported by Glassdoor members, are all in this industry), fresh grads should be aware of high rentals and even higher cost of amenities in what is arguably America’s most expensive city today.

Zurich, Switzerland rounds up the top three. Balance appears to be the key here. The European city scored nearly full marks for salary levels and quality of life. However, it is notoriously expensive with a paltry number of jobs available too.

Moscow has the most number of jobs, but Aarhus has the best quality of life

People walk on a bridge across the Moskva river with the Kremlin in the background. Source: AFP/Alexander Nemenov

When it comes to job availability, however, Russia’s Moscow takes the crown.

According to a Russian Federal State Statistics Service report, the number of unemployed people here decreased by six percent compared to November last year. A note of caution, however, among the unemployed, more than half are those aged between 20 and 34 years old, as reported by The Moscow Times.

It should come as no surprise that Aarhus, Denmark, earned the perfect score for quality of life. Denmark’s second largest city boasts incredible displays of art and architecture, an exceptionally low crime rate and a good environment for expats. Main roads and streets have been reprogrammed into new public spaces and parks, Architects’ Journal notes, in large-scale ‘experimental urban interventions’ so residents get to experience what progressive, urban living is all about.

A Rainbow Crossing is something we’ve been working on for a while and we’re looking forward to unveiling this in the middle of the year. We want Cuba Street to develop into Wellington’s Pride Precinct & are looking forward to engaging more with the LGBTQI+ community about this. pic.twitter.com/s3yxDbrQcM

— Justin Lester (@justin_lester) March 8, 2018

Meanwhile, the lowest cost of living is in Mangalore, India, followed by Hyderabad, also India, and Monterrey, Mexico. For the digital nomad planning to wanderlust through life on a budget, these are the cities to set up base at.

The most open-minded city is the New Zealand city with a rainbow crossing set up to celebrate diversity. Mayor for Wellington, New Zealand, Justin Lester said the crossing at Cuba Street is part of the city’s project to develop into Wellington’s Pride Precinct and are working with the LGBTQI+ community to make the city more pride-friendly.