With the pandemic starting to finally get under control, a lot of people are beginning to look for new employment and Grand Rapids just happens to be a great place to do that.  In a recent survey by WalletHub.com of 2021's Best & Worst Places to Start a Career, Grand Rapids ranked 31st of the 182 cities surveyed.

The survey focused on two key dimensions to rank each city, professional opportunities and quality of life.  Grand Rapids ranked 14th in the country in professional opportunities, beating out cities like Austin, TX and Seattle, WA.  Where Grand Rapids seemed to lack was in quality of life, where we ranked 110th in the country.

Only one other Michigan city was on the list and it was one of the worst rankings in the nation.  Yes, that's right, Detroit came in at an abysmal 178th out of 182 cities.  Detroit did, however, rank 4th in the nation for job growth.

Below, you can check out the 5 best and worst cities to start a career.

5 Best Places To Start A Career

  1. Salt Lake City, UT
  2. Orlando, FL
  3. Atlanta, GA
  4. Austin, TX
  5. Columbia, SC

5 Worst Places To Start A Career

  1. Newark, NJ
  2. Hialeah, FL
  3. New York, NY
  4. Bridgeport, CT
  5. Detroit, MI

Personally, it seemed a bit surprising that Orlando was ranked second in the nation and that New York City was the third worst in the nation.  Check out the interactive map to see the other rankings or you can visit WalletHub.com to see the full list.

Source: WalletHub

The methodology for the survey used two key dimensions: Professional Opportunities and Quality of Life.  Each of those dimensions were broken down into several individually weighted metrics to determine the rankings.

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