College and university students in the class of 2020 faced the worst -- and most uncertain -- job market the U.S. had seen in generations. Economic fallout in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak pushed unemployment to 13.3% in May of 2020 as millions of college students graduated and joined the labor force. Only a month earlier, the U.S. jobless was 14.8%, the highest point since the Great Depression.
With the average annual cost of a college education ranging from about $26,000 at a four-year public school to $54,000 at a private one, many students take on debt to afford college. Total student debt topped $1.7 trillion in 2020. Considering the financial challenges, it is as important as ever that college graduates secure jobs that require the skills they obtained as undergraduates, and that pay a salary that justifies the investment in their education.
Though the job market has improved significantly since the early months of the pandemic on a national scale, in some major U.S. cities, recent college graduates still face considerable hurdles.
Shreveport-Bossier City is one of four Louisiana metro areas to rank among the worst places for recent college graduates to start a career. Disadvantages in the metro areas include the large share of low-wage jobs held by young workers. The average monthly wage for workers between the ages of 22 and 24 in the metro area is just $1,826, less than in over 75% of all other U.S. metro areas.
College-educated metro area residents are also more likely to face serious financial hardship than most Americans with a bachelor's degree. An estimated 13.8% of local residents ages 25 and up with a bachelor's degree live below the poverty line, compared to 9.6% of college-educated adults nationwide.
The worst cities for recent graduates to find a job were identified using an index of six key measures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau: (1) average monthly earnings for 22-24-year-olds in Q1 2021, (2) change in employment of 22-24-year-olds from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021, (3) the share of 22-24-year-olds employed in professions that typically require a college education, (4) the October 2021 unemployment rate, (5) the ratio of median earnings for adults with a bachelor's degree to the median earnings for adults of all education levels, and (6) the poverty rate among college educated adults. Only metro areas where 35% or less of the population 3 years and over are enrolled in college or graduate school were considered in our analysis.
| Rank |
Metro area |
Employment in sectors that typically require a 4-yr. degree (%) |
Avg. monthly earnings of 22-24 year-olds ($) |
Poverty rate among adults with a bachelor's degree (%) |
| 1 |
El Centro, CA |
7.1 |
1,828 |
13.7 |
| 2 |
Yuma, AZ |
10.5 |
1,994 |
12.3 |
| 3 |
Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI |
5.1 |
2,261 |
8.6 |
| 4 |
Hattiesburg, MS |
7.9 |
1,520 |
16.1 |
| 5 |
Santa Fe, NM |
12.4 |
2,033 |
12.0 |
| 6 |
Farmington, NM |
9.6 |
1,838 |
13.4 |
| 7 |
Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula, MS |
8.9 |
1,699 |
13.1 |
| 8 |
Beckley, WV |
8.2 |
1,936 |
14.5 |
| 9 |
Fayetteville, NC |
10.4 |
1,776 |
13.0 |
| 10 |
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA |
8.3 |
1,767 |
12.4 |
| 11 |
Flint, MI |
9.5 |
1,946 |
13.1 |
| 12 |
Kingston, NY |
11.5 |
1,998 |
11.4 |
| 13 |
East Stroudsburg, PA |
5.6 |
1,894 |
8.8 |
| 14 |
Grants Pass, OR |
7.1 |
2,043 |
15.5 |
| 15 |
Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH |
11.1 |
1,952 |
10.8 |
| 16 |
Erie, PA |
11.2 |
1,869 |
11.0 |
| 17 |
Lake Charles, LA |
8.5 |
2,380 |
10.9 |
| 18 |
Pine Bluff, AR |
11.3 |
1,760 |
13.7 |
| 19 |
Albany, GA |
10.3 |
1,712 |
15.4 |
| 20 |
Muskegon, MI |
6.0 |
1,986 |
11.2 |
| 21 |
Valdosta, GA |
11.1 |
1,676 |
15.1 |
| 22 |
New Orleans-Metairie, LA |
12.1 |
2,028 |
12.6 |
| 23 |
Pocatello, ID |
10.3 |
1,794 |
12.3 |
| 24 |
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX |
10.3 |
1,617 |
15.7 |
| 25 |
Houma-Thibodaux, LA |
9.3 |
2,159 |
13.0 |
| 26 |
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA |
10.5 |
1,826 |
13.8 |
| 27 |
Saginaw, MI |
9.3 |
1,995 |
12.7 |
| 28 |
Sumter, SC |
7.2 |
1,918 |
13.8 |
| 29 |
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL |
12.1 |
2,019 |
10.1 |
| 30 |
Battle Creek, MI |
10.3 |
2,268 |
12.0 |
