Data-Driven Career Rankings · Updated 2026
Best Cities by Career
Where should you live? The answer depends on what you do. We ranked 530 US metros for 30 occupations using income, cost of living, unemployment, and crime data.
Technology
Healthcare
Education
Skilled Trades
Business and Finance
Public Service
Creative
How We Rank Cities by Career
Each occupation ranking uses a composite score built from US Census Bureau income data, Bureau of Labor Statistics employment figures, FBI crime reports, and cost-of-living indices. Scoring weights are tuned per occupation to reflect what actually matters financially for that career. All metrics are normalized 0 to 100 across 530 US metros.
US Census BureauBureau of Labor StatisticsFBI Crime DataBLS Occupational Outlook