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.

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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/

https://www.jobs.ch/

https://uk.linkedin.com/jobs

https://arbeidsplassen.nav.no/

https://www.seek.com.au/

https://www.chinahr.com/

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Our team at CVwizard offers resume and cover letter guidance with practical tips, industry insights, and expert advice for job seekers to succeed in their career journeys.