With summer approaching and many young adults expected to look for short-term work in order to bridge their finances or grow their professional skills, the personal-finance website WalletHub took an in-depth look at 2018’s Best Places for Summer Jobs.
With summer-job seekers in mind, WalletHub compared the relative strength of more than 180 markets in the U.S. across 21 key indicators of employment outlook, affordability and downtime-friendliness. Our data set ranges from median income of part-time workers to availability of summer jobs to rental price for a one-bedroom property. Read on for the complete ranking, job-hunting advice from a panel of experts and a full description of our methodology.
To help job seekers find the best summer employment opportunities, WalletHub’s analysts compared more than 180 markets in the U.S. across 21 key metrics. The data set ranges from availability of summer jobs to median income of part-time workers to median rental price.
| Top 20 Cities for Summer Jobs | ||||
| 1 | Scottsdale, AZ | 11 | Minneapolis, MN | |
| 2 | Orlando, FL | 12 | Seattle, WA | |
| 3 | Columbia, MD | 13 | Austin, TX | |
| 4 | Denver, CO | 14 | Reno, NV | |
| 5 | Portland, ME | 15 | San Francisco, CA | |
| 6 | Miami, FL | 16 | Cincinnati, OH | |
| 7 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 17 | St. Paul, MN | |
| 8 | Atlanta, GA | 18 | Portland, OR | |
| 9 | Salt Lake City, UT | 19 | Charleston, SC | |
| 10 | Rapid City, SD | 20 | Boise, ID | |
Best vs. Worst
- Miami has the most part-time job openings per 1,000 people aged 16 to 24 in the labor force, 132.58, which is 21 times higher than in North Las Vegas, Nev., the city with the fewest at 6.32.
- Scottsdale, Ariz., has the highest median income for part-time workers (adjusted for cost of living), $24,636, which is than 3.5 times higher than in New York, the city with the lowest at $6,993.
- Portland, Maine, has the highest labor-force participation rate of people aged 16 to 24, 75.81 percent, which is 1.9 times higher than in Irvine, Calif., the city with the lowest at 39.33 percent.
- Bismarck, ND, has the lowest unemployment rate for people aged 16 to 24, 2.56 percent, which is 14.6 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 37.33 percent.
- Gilbert, Ariz. has the lowest share of people aged 16 to 24 living in poverty, 8.69 percent, which is 6.4 times lower than in Tallahassee, Fla., the city with the highest at 55.77 percent.
Most Arizona cities rank in the top half nationally for best places for summer jobs.
| Arizona Cities Summer Job Ranking | ||||
| 1 | Scottsdale, AZ | 67.39 | 1 | 4 |
| 26 | Chandler, AZ | 51.03 | 28 | 43 |
| 27 | Tempe, AZ | 50.92 | 27 | 59 |
| 39 | Phoenix, AZ | 49.05 | 51 | 24 |
| 47 | Mesa, AZ | 47.96 | 50 | 57 |
| 58 | Peoria, AZ | 46.5 | 49 | 103 |
| 64 | Gilbert, AZ | 46.03 | 52 | 119 |
| 75 | Glendale, AZ | 45 | 64 | 91 |
| 94 | Tucson, AZ | 42.79 | 135 | 19 |
Tucson regrettably ranks last for Arizona cities and is out of the top 50% nationally. For the full report Click Here.