These six California cities are the most competitive for high-paying jobs

Six California cities are among the top 20 most competitive in the U.S. for highly paid jobs.

That’s according to Career.io, which provides job search and career growth services. The company analyzed LinkedIn data to rank every state and the largest cities based on how many people were applying daily for local, high-paying jobs.

Career.io doubled the local average wage, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to define “highly paid” jobs. The company looked at the largest cities by population, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and the largest five cities in each state.

Salt Lake City, Utah, was the most competitive market with 34.9 applicants applying daily for every highly paid job. Parkersburg, West Virginia, had the least competitive market of all the large cities. Career.io found zero applications in December.

In California, San Jose — with 29.6 applicants per day for every highly paid job — was the most competitive. Bakersfield, with just 0.24 applicants, was the least competitive.

San Francisco was the sixth most competitive with 24.1 applicants, followed by Santa Ana at 22.3 applicants. Los Angeles took eighth with 21.8 applicants. San Diego was 11th with 10.1 applicants. Riverside rounded out California’s top cities with 6.5 applicants.

Here’s the full top 20:

1. Salt Lake City, Utah

2. Saint Louis, Missouri

3. Denver, Colorado

4. San Jose

5. Kansas City, Kansas

6. San Francisco

7. Santa Ana

8. Los Angeles

9. Jersey City, New Jersey

10. New York, New York

11. San Diego

12. Roswell, New Mexico

13. Seattle, Washington

14. Boston, Massachusetts

15. Las Vegas, Nevada

16. Riverside

17. Cincinnati, Ohio

18. Miami, Florida

19. Stamford, Connecticut

20. Tampa, Florida

California was one of the most competitive states overall, Career.io found, with 15.2 daily applicants per high-paying job. Utah was the most competitive state with 22.6 applicants, followed by South Carolina (21.8), Missouri (19.2), Colorado (17.1), Kansas (16) and Hawaii (15.2).

How can you stand out?

Career.io recommended job hunters stay active on LinkedIn and go to events in their industry to network.

Make sure to optimize your resume.

You should research a potential employer so you can demonstrate in your resume and a potential interview why you want to work for them, according to Career.io.

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Cortlynn Stark

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4784

Cortlynn Stark writes about finance and the economy for The Sum. She is a Certified Financial Education Instructor℠ with the National Financial Educators Council. She previously covered City Hall for The Kansas City Star and joined The Star in January 2020 as a breaking news reporter. Cortlynn studied journalism and Spanish at Missouri State University.