Moving for Employment? Consider all the Area's Options

We are a nation of modern-day Joads. The Joads, you'll remember, were John Steinbeck's creation in "The Grapes of Wrath." The struggling Depression-era family was uprooted from dustbowl Oklahoma to California in pursuit of earning a livelihood.

Though most of us aren't traveling by jalopy or having to spend the night camping along the way, it still can be tough to leave a place you call home to take a job elsewhere.

If you are moving for the sake of employment, you'd be wise to consider what options will be open in case the job for which you uproot yourself doesn't work out. Or even if the job does work out, will you have options in the new city to move on to a higher position and/or a better salary some years down the road?

Forbes.com recently conducted a survey on top cities for employment, and it's worth taking a look:

Raleigh, N.C., topped the list. It's part of the state's booming Research Triangle, comprised of top universities, hospitals, and scores of biomedical research companies. To sustain the economy, the area has a broad array of openings in everything from healthcare to IT to sales. Companies like not only the research-friendly environment, they like the quality of life afforded by the area's good public school systems, mild (milder than most, we'll say) winters, and relatively affordable housing.

Florida has many cities earning slots on the top 25 best spots for job opportunities. Jacksonville ranked No. 3 and Orlando No. 4. Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota, Tampa, and West Palm Beach, Forbes also said, had high employment.

Phoenix ranked No. 2 and in fifth place, Washington, D.C., which ranked No. 1 last year.

Forbes said it compiled the list by ranking unemployment rates, job growth, income growth, median household incomes and costs of living in the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas.

Some large, bustling cities did surprisingly poor on the Forbes list. Among them, New York ranked No. 75, Chicago was No. 82, Los Angeles was No. 88, and Boston was No. 83.

Big cities have high median incomes but also tend to have unemployment, expensive housing and low job growth, Forbes said.

Most of the top ranked cities were in the Southeast and Southwest, earning their way to the top of Forbes' list with good weather, available land for development, lower costs of living, and business-friendly tax climates.

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