SLO County ranked one of top job markets in the U.S.

The San Luis Obispo metropolitan area was ranked the second-best job market in the nation, behind only the San Jose region, according to a Zippia study.

Zippia, a career-finding website, conducted a study of 386 metropolitan areas using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The website ranked each area from 1 to 386 (with 1 being the best) in three categories: wage change, unemployment rate change and current unemployment rate. It then averaged the three numbers to come up with a composite rank for each metro area. The lower the average, the better the rank.

SLO's metropolitan area consists of the cities of San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande. The average annual wage is $48,740, and the employed population is 116,630 people with a low unemployment rate of 2.6 percent.

San Luis Obispo is topped only by San Jose's metropolitan area, which has a 2.4 percent unemployment rate, an employed population of 1,089,070 people and an average annual wage of $78,990.

In comparing San Luis Obispo to San Jose, the website notes, "If you still like California weather and a hot job market, but aren’t a fan of big cities, San Luis Obispo County may be the spot for you. With a working population about one-tenth the size of San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, the county offers a more laid-back vibe, but still has only a 2.6% unemployment rate."

Here's a look at the top 10 for 2018:

1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California
   
   
2. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, California
   
   
3. Odessa, Texas
   
   
4. Midland, Texas
   
   
5. Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina
   
   
6. Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, Virginia
   
   
7. Florence, South Carolina
   
   
8. Ann Arbor, Michigan
   
   
9. Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa
   
   
10. Roanoke, Virginia
    
    

This story was originally published June 22, 2018 at 11:46 AM with the headline "SLO County ranked one of top job markets in the U.S.."