College graduation season is over and many new graduates are deciding where they want to start their graduate life. Although there are some states best suited to start a careerThere are others that young professionals might want to steer clear of.
Under a new research from BestColleges.com, a student resource website, West Virginia is the worst state to start a career in, due to a lack of job opportunities and low median entry wages.
BestColleges ranked all 50 states on nine indicators, based on publicly available data, including median rents, cost of living, median entry-level wages, employment, diversity race/ethnicity and fun level. These metrics are also weighted by importance.
Based on the findings, here are the 10 worst states to start your career:
- West Virginia
- Maine
- Montana
- Vermont
- New Hampshire
- Alaska
- Kentucky
- Wyoming
- South Dakota
- Idaho
Young professionals want to live in states where they are well paid and have promotion opportunities – both areas that West Virginia misses out on.
Dubbed the Mountain State, West Virginia has struggled to recover from pandemic-related job losses over the past two years. The lost state 101,000 won employment during the height of Covid-19, and as of April 2022, West Virginia has 24,300 fewer jobs than before the pandemic.
Although West Virginia has a relatively low cost of living, fresh graduates in the state shouldn’t expect to bring in large salaries. Based on ZipRecruiterThe median entry salary in West Virginia is just $29,305 a year – 35% less than the median entry salary in New York, the best place for fresh graduates to start their careers.
Maine, the second worst state, boasts a high cost of living and high median rent while limited job opportunities, making it another less-than-ideal state for beginning professionals. .
The average cost of living in Maine is about $45,272, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis, much higher than the average entry salary of only $30,839 a year. Maine also lacks diversity, with less than 10% of Mainers are people of color.
BestColleges also advises recent graduates to consider other factors not covered in their research when deciding where to start their careers.
“Variables like political climate, crime and safety, and weather can all play an important role in your decision to move to a new place.”
