The Great Resignation seems to not be ending soon as over 4 million workers quit their jobs in August, a record high. People are leaving for opportunities that pay more or in search of jobs offering better work-life balance.
Sometimes a career change isn't just a new job, but may also mean moving to a new state for a new opportunity. For those who don't mind if they have to move for their career switch, the new analysis from BestColleges may be a good list to review.
BestColleges puts together different kinds of college rankings and provides different resources for college students. It also has published different guides and lists about changing careers, such as jobs for teachers considering a change or how to know it's time to make a career switch.
As Americans continue to re-evaluate what they want from work and if it's time to say goodbye to their current positions, BestColleges decided to figure out what could be the best states for career changes.
"The team at BestColleges.com wanted to assist individuals who might not know where to begin when considering a career shift coupled with a relocation," Jessica Bryant, education analyst for BestColleges, told Insider in an email.
To do this, BestColleges used seven metrics from different datasets that may be important to consider when relocating for a career change. Each metric was ranked and given a weight to calculate an overall score for each state. Median income and cost of living were given the largest weights. A lower overall score meant a higher rank and therefore a potentially better state for those looking to change careers.
The following are the seven metrics used by BestColleges and their weights in parentheses:
- Median income using 2019 data from the Census' American Community Survey (25%)
- Cost of living using data from the Council for Community and Economic Research's Cost of Living Index (25%)
- Job growth using year-over-year July data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (15%)
- Unemployment rate as of August 2021 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (15%)
- Gender pay gap using 2019 earnings data from the Census' American Community Survey (10%)
- Well-being using Sharecare's 2020 Community Well-Being Index (5%)
- COVID-19 vaccination rate using September data from the Mayo Clinic (5%)
"We considered an endless list of metrics to include in our ranking, but ultimately settled on the seven factors most relevant for the current economic landscape," Bryant said. "Potential career switchers should know about the financial, employment, and social circumstances of an area they're considering moving to, and how those combined factors will impact their futures."
The above slides include information provided by BestColleges to Insider about where each state ranked for each of the seven metrics before they were weighted to calculate the overall score.
Based on the weighted scores, Georgia is the best state for career changers. The full analysis of how each state ranked for career change and more information about the data used can be found on BestColleges.