Parkersburg, West Virginia Named Least Competitive U.S. Market for High-Paying Jobs

In some cities, there are dozens of applicants per day trying for the best-paid jobs — while others barely attract any applications at all. To have a chance at the big bucks, it’s essential to know the market — so Career.io has identified the cities and states with the highest application rates for top-paid jobs on LinkedIn.

You don’t need a degree in rocket science to recognize that highly-paid jobs are pretty attractive to most people. But academics have used science to prove a less intuitive fact about top-dollar work: higher pay attracts applications from “higher quality” candidates, as measured by IQ, personality and motivation. And not, as you might think, a bunch of less suitable candidates attracted by an extra “zero” at the end of the advertised salary.

That’s great for high-paying employers. But when you’re one of those “high-quality” candidates for a particular job, a bigger salary means tougher competition for the role. And while employers put hundreds of thousands more jobs on the U.S. market each month, more than 30 million workers quit in 2023. So, navigating the crowd to a highly-paid job requires more than talent.

Since competition for these roles is far from even across the U.S., Career.io has crunched the data to find which job markets are most and least competitive for highly paid jobs. These are the states and major cities you might consider — or reconsider — in your search for a top salary in your field of work. And following our analysis, you’ll find some tips on how to stand out against the competition. 

Key Findings

• Salt Lake City, Utah, has the most competitive market, with 34.9 applicants per day for each highly-paid job.

• Parkersburg, West Virginia, is the big city with the least competitive market for highly paid jobs — we found zero applications in our data set for December 2023.

• New York City (10.2) is the most competitive market in the state of New York, and Yonkers (0.08) is the least competitive.

• San Jose (29.6) is the most competitive market in California, and Bakersfield (0.24) is the least competitive.
  

This information was published by Career.io

The Methodology Behind This Study 

To determine the most and least competitive markets for highly paid jobs, Career.io reviewed data on job application activity for job postings on LinkedIn. 

Cities and states were ranked based on the number of daily job applicants for highly paid jobs within the area. The threshold for a “highly paid” job within a city or state was determined by doubling the local median annual wage and then applied on LinkedIn to tabulate the number of jobs within a city or state above the “highly paid” threshold. 

The number of daily applicants per job was calculated by dividing the total number of applicants for “highly paid” jobs by the total number of days each job posting had been listed. 

Data on median annual wage is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is at the metropolitan statistical area and state levels. 

Career.io considered the 100 most populated cities in the United States, as well as the five most populated cities within each state.

Data was collected in December 2023.

Easy-Access Research Notes

The Top 20 Most Competitive Cities

The Top 20 Least Competitive Cities

The Most Competitive States

The Most Competitive City in Each State

The Least Competitive City in Each State

About Career.io

Career.io is an end-to-end job search and career platform with everything you need for your job search and career growth, all in one place. 

At Career.io, you can find tools and advice to help elevate every step in your career — whether you want to create a successful resume, land a job in your dream company, compare your salary or prepare for an important interview. 

The Career.io team regularly shares career advice and resources on their blog, their podcast and their expert webinars. In addition to this, Career.io also publishes insightful studies that cover the job market, salary trends, workplace issues, top employers, in-demand skills and other topics that will help prepare their users for their next career jump.

About NeoMam Studios

Founded in 2011 in the UK, NeoMam Studios is a creative studio on a mission to create

digital content that online audiences will want to share for months and years to come. NeoMam was commissioned by Career.io to produce and promote this project on their behalf.