Job Difficulty Index: The Hardest and Easiest Cities in The World to Get a Job
Job hunting isn’t easy and landing your perfect job can often feel impossible, especially when job opportunities vary dramatically from one city to the next. Finding the right job can feel like a daunting task, and where you live plays a major role in how smooth or difficult that process might be.
While some cities are buzzing with opportunities, offering countless job openings across a wide range of industries, others leave job seekers facing stiff competition or limited options. Whether you're chasing your dream job in a thriving global hub or seeking new possibilities in a new industry, understanding where your chances of success are highest is important.
To find out, we created the Global Job Difficulty Index to uncover the cities around the world that make the job search a breeze and those where you might need a little more perseverance, from economic powerhouses to hidden job market gems.
Hardest Cities to Get a Job
Buenos Aires takes the title as the hardest city in the world to land a job. With an estimated population of over 15.6 million, but just 29,000 available jobs, job seekers will likely find it difficult to land their next role.
It’s joined at the top of the list by Mexico City, with just 33,000 jobs on the market for a population of over 22.5 million. Following up in third is Riga, Latvia with over 618,000 people and a job market of just 18,969 available roles.
A handful of UK cities have also found themselves in the hardest cities to find a job with Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh filling out the top 20.
Location | Population | Number of jobs available | Avg Yearly Salary ($) | Overall Index Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 - Buenos Aires, Argentina | 15,618,288 | 29,000 | 14,000 | 0.125 |
2 - Mexico City, Mexico | 22,505,315 | 33,000 | 17,000 | 0.151 |
3 - Riga, Latvia | 618,560 | 18,600 | 18,969 | 0.197 |
4 - Shenzen, China | 13,311,855 | 136,000 | 23,000 | 0.213 |
5 - San Jose, Costa Rica | 333,980 | 7,212 | 24,148 | 0.234 |
6 - Guangzhou, China | 14,590,096 | 183,000 | 25,782 | 0.240 |
7 - Prague, Czech Republic | 1,384,732 | 9,000 | 29,664 | 0.268 |
8 - Beijing, China | 18,960,744 | 203,000 | 32,600 | 0.298 |
9 - Abu Dhabi, UAE | 1,593,284 | 6,000 | 35,394 | 0.315 |
10 - Monte Video, Uruguay | 1,781,363 | 9,333 | 37,000 | 0.331 |
11 - Shanghai, China | 22,315,474 | 512,000 | 36,600 | 0.345 |
12 - Milan, Italy | 3,160,631 | 31,000 | 39,934 | 0.361
|
13 - Dublin, Ireland | 1,284,551 | 20,708 | 40,225 | 0.370 |
14 - Tokyo, Japan | 37,115,035 | 829,000 | 39,818 | 0.373 |
15 - Rome, Italy | 4,332,000 | 14,000 | 43,269 | 0.384 |
16 - Barcelona, Spain | 5,711,917 | 48,000 | 42,834 | 0.386 |
17 - Birmingham, UK | 2,684,807 | 38,000 | 42,372 | 0.387 |
18- Madrid, Spain | 6,783,241 | 46,000 | 43,914 | 0.393 |
19 - Glasgow, UK | 1,708,147 | 15,212 | 44,840 | 0.404
|
20 - Edinburgh, UK | 558,676 | 11,000 | 46,159 | 0.426
|
Easiest Cities to Get a Job
Boston, Massachusetts was found to be the easiest city in the index in the world to land a new role, with the city serving as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States.
The US dominated the top 20 list of easiest cities to get a job, with San Francisco, Washington DC, Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles all joining Boston in the makeup of the top 10.
A host of Swiss cities also join the US in the top 20 list of easiest cities to land your next role with the capital, Zurich placing second. The Swiss capital has just 18,765 available roles for a population of over 1.4 million.
Location | Population | Number of jobs available | Avg Yearly Salary ($) | Overall Index Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 - Boston, MA, USA | 646,622 | 109,000 | 106,906 | 1.110
|
2 - Zurich, Switzerland | 1,443,349 | 18,765 | 113,579 | 1.110 |
3 - San Francisco, CA, USA | 810,202 | 62,000 | 104,400 | 0.996
|
4 - Washington, DC, USA | 686,995 | 163,000 | 79,659 | 0.939 |
5 - Basel, Switzerland | 574,508 | 10,892 | 96,823 | 0.871
|
6 - Bern, Switzerland | 444,530 | 13,397 | 91,347 | 0.834
|
7 - Copenhagen, Denmark | 1,391,000 | 24,000 | 92,800 | 0.834
|
8 - Atlanta, GA, USA | 514,465 | 97,000 | 71,476 | 0.818 |
9 - New York City, NY, USA | 8,258,035 | 515,000 | 85,570 | 0.816
|
10 - Los Angeles, CA, USA | 3,822,224 | 115,000 | 88,000 | 0.805 |
11 - Seattle, WA, USA | 759,915 | 79,000 | 76,147 | 0.774 |
12 - Miami, FL, USA | 460,289 | 51,000 | 74,000 | 0.762 |
13 - Geneva, Switzerland | 638,782 | 4,893 | 85,000 | 0.756
|
14 - Chicago, IL, USA | 2,638,159 | 104,000 | 81,000 | 0.753
|
15 - Luxembourg, Luxembourg | 134,714 | 8,000 | 75,305 | 0.722 |
16 - Minneapolis, MN, USA | 432,250 | 61,000 | 65,250 | 0.716 |
17 - Houston, TX, USA | 2,319,119 | 85,000 | 76,900 | 0.714
|
18 - St. Louis, MO, USA | 275,506 | 55,000 | 56,550 | 0.698
|
19 - Pittsburgh, PA, USA | 303,413 | 47,000 | 59,801 | 0.681 |
20 - Dallas, TX, USA | 1,302,753 | 102,000 | 66,242 | 0.662 |
View the full data here: CVwizard - Hardest City to Find a Job v2.xlsx
Methodology
The study conducted by CVwizard analyzed the top 65 cities from the Mercer Cost of Living Index to assess job market conditions. The data included population size, the number of job vacancies, jobs per capita, and average yearly salaries. ‘Jobs per capita’ was worked out on the number of jobs available divided by the population to show how many jobs are available per person. All the metrics were then combined to create a comprehensive index reflecting the ease or difficulty of finding a job in each city. Data was sourced from a combination of local employment agencies, government labor statistics, and international job boards, ensuring a broad representation of current job market conditions. These can be found below.
Sources:
https://www.mercer.com/insights/total-rewards/talent-mobility-insights/cost-of-living/
https://worldpopulationreview.com/
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