Two North Carolina cities are among the top five cities in the country for recent college graduates, according to payroll services company ADP.
Raleigh is ranked the best city in the country for recent college graduates to get a job with Charlotte placing fifth.
The company said that hiring rates for jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree or equivalent peaked in 2022, meaning that recent college graduates will have to search a little bit harder than they did a few years ago.
While making their list, ADP considers wages, hiring, and affordability. They examine data from January 2019 through April 2024, representing more than four million people aged 20 to 29 at more than 27,000 employers.
Raleigh checked all the boxes, ranking the highest among the metros studied.
The article mentions Research Triangle Park, the largest research park in the United States and headquarters for more than 300 companies, most of them in the science and technology sectors.
Notable companies in the area include IBM, Red Hat, Cisco Systems, and MetLife. Colleges and universities like Duke University, NC State, and UNC-Chapel Hill are also major employers, as well as hospitals like Duke University Hospital, UNC Rex and WakeMed, and state government.
The City of Oaks is also centrally located in the middle of the state, about two hours to the closest beach and three hours to the mountains.
Baltimore, Maryland, came in second place, followed by Austin, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte, which rounded out the top five.
Known as the Queen City, Charlotte is the second-largest banking center after New York City. Other major employers include Duke Energy, UNC Charlotte, and hospitals like Atrium Health and Novant Health. It is also about two hours to the mountains and a short drive across the state line to South Carolina.
Both North Carolina cities, along with Chapel Hill, Wilmington, and Durham, were also recently named among the top 20 cities for renters in the US.