10 US cities job seekers are flocking to right now - and 5 cities they're abandoning to get there

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10 US cities job seekers are flocking to right now - and 5 cities they're abandoning to get there

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Washington, DC is a popular destination for job seekers.

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When job seekers move to a new area, it's usually for a specific company - not for the city itself.

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But some cities are especially attractive to "metro movers," or those who apply to jobs outside of the metro area they live in.

That's according to a new report by Glassdoor chief economist Andrew Chamberlain.

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Especially popular cities were those with high-profile companies - like San Francisco's Facebook, Salesforce, and Lyft - or those with a mélange of industries, like Washington D.C.'s mix of healthcare, government, consulting, and education.

Other cities have residents who are itching to apply and work elsewhere. They tended to be cities that are near booming job hubs, like Providence, San Jose, and Baltimore.

Glassdoor analyzed 668,000 online job applications over one week to understand work-related migration in the US. Almost 30% of these applications were to jobs in a different metro area than the job seeker's present residence.

Below are the 10 cities that attracted the most job applications from outsiders ranked in order of the smallest to largest percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move:

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10. Austin

10. Austin

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 2.3%

Biggest source city: Dallas

Top company for out-of-town applicants: International Business Machines Corporation

9. Dallas

9. Dallas

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 2.8%

Biggest source city: Houston

Top company for out-of-town applicants: AMR Corporation

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8. Seattle

8. Seattle

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 3.1%

Biggest source city: Los Angeles

Top company for out-of-town applicants: Amazon

7. Chicago

7. Chicago

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 3.2%

Biggest source city: New York

Top company for out-of-town applicants: Motorola Solutions

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6. Boston

6. Boston

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 3.7%

Biggest source city: New York

Top company for out-of-town applicants: Bose

5. Washington, DC

5. Washington, DC

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 4.3%

Biggest source city: Baltimore

Top company for out-of-town applicants: Booz Allen Hamilton

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4. Los Angeles

4. Los Angeles

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 6.8%

Biggest source city: Riverside, California

Top company for out-of-town applicants: The Walt Disney Company

3. San Jose, California

3. San Jose, California

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 6.9%

Biggest source city: San Francisco

Top company for out-of-town applicants: Google

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2. New York

2. New York

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 8.4%

Biggest source city: Washington, DC

Top company for out-of-town applicants: JPMorgan Chase

1. San Francisco

1. San Francisco

Percentage of applications from job seekers willing to move: 12.4%

Biggest source city: San Jose, California

Top company for out-of-town applicants: Facebook

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Local job seekers in five cities are overwhelmingly applying to jobs elsewhere

Local job seekers in five cities are overwhelmingly applying to jobs elsewhere

About 28.5% of job applications overall are to jobs outside of the applicant's metro area, Glassdoor said.

Most applicants who aimed to leave opted for booming hubs near their cities.

Other cities are also home to noted institutions of higher education, and graduates often opt to work somewhere outside of where they studied.

Brown University, Providence College, and the Rhode Island School of Design are all in Providence, Rhode Island, which scored top on the list of cities with the most metro movers.

Here are the five cities job seekers are leaving the most:

5. Sacramento, California

5. Sacramento, California

Percentage of applications to other cities: 44.4%

Where they're going: San Francisco; San Jose, California; Los Angeles

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4. Baltimore

4. Baltimore

Percentage of applications to other cities: 45.6%

Where they're going: Washington, DC; New York City; Philadelphia

3. Riverside, California

3. Riverside, California

Percentage of applications to other cities: 45.6%

Where they're going: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco

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2. San Jose, California

2. San Jose, California

Percentage of applications to other cities: 47.6%

Where they're going: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York

1. Providence, Rhode Island

1. Providence, Rhode Island

Percentage of applications to other cities: 52.2%

Where they're going: Boston; New York; Worcester, Massachusetts

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