6 best cities around the U.S. to kickstart (or restart!) your career

6 best cities around the U.S. to kickstart (or restart) your career6 best cities around the U.S. to kickstart (or restart) your careerGetting a foot in the door when youre just starting your career (or just trying to get started in a new-to-you career or industry) can be tough in most major cities where the cost of living is high, competition is fierce and the better salaries are reserved for those with the most experience.But you have to startsomewhere, right?To help you launch your new career, weve gathered a list of the best U.S. cities where starting a career is MUCH easier than in other places around the nation. We used various data sources to come up with this list including individual city job growth data andGOBankingRates researchof cities with highest-paying jobs and lowest cost of living.While the location you choose for your new career is only one thing that matters in a whole list of other potentially important factors (like competition, time of year, your background, etc .), this list will at least give you some helpful food for thought if youre considering a relocation as parte of your career plans.CharlotteThe overall cost of living index is just 97.2 inCharlotte(as a note, 100 is the National Average) and the housing cost of living is even lower at 91. A studio apartment is quite affordable at $724 a month in the city and $636 in the suburbs. The median household income is $53,274 a year and the unemployment rate is low at just 4.5%. Perhaps most notable is the recent job growth in the area an increase of 3.5% in the last year alone and project growth of 42.5% in the next ten years.Although you can find work in nearly any industry in the Charlotte area,banking and distributionare itsprimary breadwinners. You can learn mora about opportunities and employers in Charlotte by searching for companieshere.DallasDallas offers an exceptionally lowmedian home costat just $187,700 and a reasonable overall cost of living at 95.2. You can rent a studio apar tment for just $650 a month, but its important to note that utilities tend to cost 20% more in Dallas than in average US cities, so youll want to budget for the increase. That should be a breeze considering theaverage household incomein Dallas is $63,812 over $7,000 more than the rest of the state and over $6,000 more than the rest of the US.Major industriesin Dallas include finance, defense, IT, life sciences, transportation, and telecommunications, making it an excellent choice for young professionals. One company with good employee reviews isConduentIncorporated you can learn more about themhere.TampaTampa is a great place to start looking for that first opportunity, especially if youre hoping for great pay and affordable living options. Thecost of living indexfor housing is just 86, significantly below the national average, and the overall cost of living index (which includes all other cost categories) in Tampa is 94.1. An average household income of $66,687 combined with afford able living and a bustling night life making Tampa, Florida,Nirvana for new grads.You can expect to find a wide variety of employment opportunities in Tampa, but might focus your search if youre looking to work in one of their major industries avionics, defense, and marine electronics, financial services, geschftliches miteinander, tourism, manufacturing, and marine sciences.OmahaOmahas offerings arehighly diversified, which means that no matter your major youre likely to find a fit in Omaha, Nebraska. Home to the headquarters of five Fortune 500 companies and 30 manufacturing plants for Fortune 500 companies, Omaha is the promised land for young professionals.Omaha offers the lowestcost of livingon our list yet at just 88 housing is even lower yet at 76. In fact, you can rent a studio apartment for an average of $515 a month. Thats unheard of Theaverage household incomeis also above average at $62,247.Explore Omahas top employers to make the most informed decision by searching thro ugh companieshere.BostonWhile Boston was not featured as a top city according to the cost of living index weve been referring to throughout the above city descriptions (in fact, its cost of living indexcomes in at 169.9, mainly due to housing), we felt it was absolutely worthy of a shoutout due to the massive jobs growth its experienced in the past year alone.And not to mention the fact that some of the biggest national brands have some sort of footprint in the Greater Boston area from Google, Facebook,GE, New Balance, Dell, Hubspot, andmost recently Amazon (and were not including the possible bid for HQ2).The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a couple of great visuals that tell the story of Bostons recent jobs growthIf you look at the rightmost side of this graph above, you can see the dramatic uptick of employment opportunities in the Boston metropolitan area over the last few months of this year, in contrast with whats pretty much a steady line for the rest of the U.S.And in th is graph, you can see the growth of different specific industry sectors in Boston vs in the U.S. as a whole not only is Boston in the positive for all but one sector (Financial activities), but its also seen more job growth than the U.S. in many industries (i.e., Professional and business services, Education and health services, Leisure and hospitality, Information).Sure, Boston isnt known for having the most affordable cost of living, but being one of the most culturally-rich cities in the nation brimming with the best of the best universities, hospitals, technology companies and more its hard not to include Boston on this list for best places to start (or restart) your career.This article was originally posted on Kununu.com.