Pittsburgh ranks as 7th best city to start a career

New college grads from Pittsburgh, take heart.

While this might be one of the most unfortunate times to be starting a career, those in the Steel City have a slight advantage over their counterparts in other cities.

A recent data analysis by LinkedIn’s Economic Graph team finds that Pittsburgh is the seventh best city to launch a career.

“Each city on the list offers a compelling blend of affordable housing — plus well-paying jobs that are within reach for recent grads,” writes George Anders, senior editor at LinkedIn.

The study, using data from LinkedIn (jobs) and Zillow (housing costs), shows Pittsburgh has a median salary for starter jobs of $59,800 and a median monthly rent of $1,102.

St. Louis tops the list, with a median salary of $60,400 and rental costs of $992 a month. At No. 2 is Milwaukee, Wisc., with a $1,071 median per month rent and a $60,900 median starting salary.

Both Cleveland and Cincinnati beat out Pittsburgh, landing at No. 3 and 4 respectively, on the list.

Rounding out the Top 10 is Indianapolis, Kansas City, Detroit, Columbus and Houston.

Among the job titles offered in the cities include software engineers, registered nurses, salespeople, teachers, administrative assistants, project managers, analysts, research assistants, consultants and project engineers.

The survey, led by LinkedIn data scientist Brian Xu, looked at nearly 3 million positions from 2017-19 that most immediately followed a member’s maximum education attainment.

Interestingly, Anders points out, major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., didn’t make the Top 15. “Those cities may still offer some of the highest starting salaries, but their sky-high rents mean income doesn’t stretch nearly as far,” he writes.