Home of Greats, Grifters and Graphic Designers
Some cities are more famous for their creative histories than others. Los Angeles is known as the place to be to work on movies, and New York has a long history as a place where fashion designers congregate. But are those cultural centers the best places for creatives today? To answer this question, data experts at Crucial.com crunched the numbers to break down the best cities in the US to find your next creative job based on the best overall balance between current creative workers and available creative jobs.
Overall the report names Washington DC, Atlanta and Miami as the best cities for creative professionals. DC — including Arlington and Alexandria, VA — has the best overall balance of current creative workers and available creative jobs based on numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and relevant vacancies on job search site Indeed.com. This gives creatives both a rich community to draw on, and the potential to secure a new role.
Atlanta came out on top for the number of creative workers as a proportion of the overall working population, while Miami also has a respectable number of established working creatives, with a bright future as a hub for business creativity as well as art and music.
While the highest number of graphic design jobs can be found in major cities like Chicago, LA and Washington DC, these are also where job seekers will face the most competition. And while New York City may offer roughly 300 graphic design roles per month, an existing pool of nearly 18,000 people means, you’ll be competing with an average of 60 graphic designers for each new role.
Toledo OH and Augusta GA are two smaller locations perfect for kick-starting a career in graphic design. In Augusta, designers will go up against an average of 5.2 current creative workers for each new role versus 70.8 potential rivals in LA.
None of this should be confused with the sheer number of creative and design jobs: Los Angeles, New York and Chicago are tops in that statistic.
