The 10 best US cities for job opportunities and earning potential in 2023

• HR firm Checkr ranked the best US cities for job opportunities and earning potential.
• Nashville, Tennessee topped the list, alongside cities like Austin, San Jose, and Denver.

Despite mass layoffs, rising inflation, and the ongoing economic impact of COVID-19, the US added 815,000 jobs in January and February of this year, according to payroll job data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. An additional 145,000 jobs were added by private companies in March, according to data from payroll tech firm ADP.

And workers are seemingly willing to relocate to take advantage of these opportunities. A new report from Checkr, a background check firm, looked at which cities job seekers should consider.

"Economic uncertainty has highlighted the importance of earning more money and being adaptable in the face of changing economic conditions," the Checkr report says. "In short, this uncertainty is driving many people to seek out opportunities to increase their earning potential and build greater financial security for themselves and their families."

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Checkr analyzed BLS and other government labor data on the 100 largest US cities to determine which cities have the most job opportunities with the highest earning potential. Employment opportunities in each city were evaluated with metrics like the unemployment rate, size and growth of the workforce, and the percentage of jobs open. Earning potential was ranked looking at personal income, 10-year income growth, and the percentage of households making more than $200,000 a year.

The 10 best US cities for job opportunities and earning potential according to Checkr, are:

1. Nashville, Tennessee

2. Austin, Texas

3. San Jose, California

4. Denver, Colorado

5. Raleigh, North Carolina

6. Salt Lake City, Utah

7. Seattle, Washington

8. San Francisco, California

9. Madison, Wisconsin

10. Provo-Orem, Utah

Workers in these 10 cities make, on average, $67,358 a year, Sara Korolevich, the author of the study, told Insider.

Higher wages and job growth in the top cities may be, in part, driven by the tech industry, Korolevich said.

Nashville's job market, particularly in tech, has grown with the arrival of companies like Dell, Oracle, and Amazon over the last two decades. Austin's tech industry is also attracting thousands of new employees, with giants like Google, Apple, Oracle, and Tesla expanding their offices across the city over the past five years. Denver, meanwhile, was among the cities with the highest growth rate for tech salaries last year, per Axios.

The shift to remote work may encourage workers to move to cheaper, mid-sized cities, Korolevich said.

Cities like Madison and Raleigh, she said, are "attractive to remote workers in tech and business." They are also home to major universities like the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, respectively, that "create thousands of high-paying jobs," Korolevich says.

Lower taxes and a growing healthcare sector have also increased the number of jobs available in these 10 cities, she added.