Twenty-Five Cities with Low Unemployment Rates

I was checking out Career Builder, and saw an article about the 25 best cities to find a job. Basically it was a list of cities with low unemployment rates, between 2.4% and 3.7%. Here is the top 25 list.

1. Sioux Falls, SD
2. Rapid City, SD
3. Idaho Falls, ID
4. Bismarck, ND
5. Houma, LA
6. Morgantown, WV
7. Logan, UT
8. Fargo, ND
9. Casper, WY
10. Billings, MT
11. Ames, IA
12. Lafayette, LA
13. Midland, TX
14. Iowa City, IA
15. Lincoln, NE
16. Portsmouth, NH
17. Great Falls, MT
18. Charlestown, WV
19. Des Moines, IA
20. Missoula, MT
21. Salt Lake City, UT
22. Provo, UT
23. Odessa, TX
24. Pocatello, ID
25. Sioux City, IA

Unfortunately, this list also has another name, "The 25 Places I Would Never Live". These are predominately rural communities with heavy agriculture and industrial backgrounds. Many on the list are cities where energy production are still key. Basically if you want to be a farmer, miner, or oiler you can find employment.

The benefit is that if you are like me, and can do your job from anywhere in the world these types of cities are great because you can get much nicer homes for the money. If you like the small town atmosphere, they have it.

These cities demonstrate why I believe the economy isn't as bad as they say.

If you can handle cities that seem like small towns, and enjoy hundreds of miles of open space these are places where current economic conditions aren't squeezing the life out of Main Street.