Five US cities good for finding stable healthcare jobs and high quality of life

The healthcare industry is booming with the Baby Boomer generation approaching retirement, technology advancing rapidly and medical breakthroughs happening. As a result, the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics revised Occupational Employment Report is predicting a 28.8% increase in healthcare support occupations.

The report indicts that a large area of growth will be registered nurses, home health aides and nursing aides, orderlies and attendants. While many may believe that the healthcare field only requires high degree levels, in fact, it’s an industry that uses people from all education levels and degree fields. Examples include information technology (IT), business, healthcare management as well as jobs for everyone including maintenance, janitorial, food workers and more.

What you need to know, if you’re interested in being a healthcare professional, is where the jobs are located. You might think about checking any city with a high demand for healthcare professional positions but you should also consider what your quality of life in the city would be before making the move. Cost of living, commute times, population growth, average salaries, job availability and more are all factors to consider when looking at the best cities for healthcare jobs.

The following cities all fit the bill of being some of the best cities in the US for finding healthcare jobs.

Houston, Texas makes the list because of its lower than average costs of living and high need for healthcare professionals. Forbes places it as the number one city for your paycheck to go the farthest when the average salary of $59,838 is adjusted for the lower cost of living, making your check the equivalent of $66,933. It’s also home to one of the world’s best medical centers, The Texas Medical Center, which houses the largest cluster of research and healthcare facilities in the world and employees over 93,000 people including doctors, researchers, life science professionals and more. Houston has experienced rapids amounts of population growth, with 6.08 million people counted in the metro area in the 2011 census report and is expected to add another 2.66 million by 2030.

Baltimore, Maryland is close to Washington, DC  which is home to the federal government, plenty of lobbyists and government support staff and military personal. Cost of living can be high depending on where you choose to live as well as commute times; both fluctuate depending on location. The area has a lower than average unemployment rate and job security is good with the area boasting some of the highest standards for healthcare in the industry.

Denver, Colorado has over 30 hospitals with 11 making the US News “Best Hospitals 2012-2013” top rankings list, which only included 148 of the over 5,000 hospitals in the US The metro is home to over 3 million people because of the sunny days and close proximity to the Rocky Mountains. Quality of life in Denver is good with low costs of living, high quality of life and plenty to do whether it’s outdoors, the theater, shopping or dining. The area also has plenty of pharmaceutical firms and medical research. The Health Care and Social Assistance program is also attractive to healthcare workers because it helps workers find sustainable and secure employment.

Raleigh, North Carolina has been experiencing a population growth boom of 41.85% since the census count of 2000 and is not expected to slow down anytime soon, with the population predicted to double by 2025. The area does feature a higher cost of living than some other listed cities but makes up for it with the climate and the location’s close proximity to the mountains and the beaches of North Carolina. The famous Duke University Medical Center as well as University of North Carolina Hospitals, WakeMed Health and other hospitals and care facilities are located in the area. The Research Triangle area hosts plenty of research labs and pharmaceutical companies working on cutting-edge technologies.

These are just five of the best cities for finding healthcare positions in the US. Other great locations include Boston, Massachusetts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fargo, North Dakota and more.

Resources for Finding Healthcare Jobs

About the Author

Byran Smith is the Social Media Coordinator at MyLife.com is an online searching tool designed to help you re-connect with long-lost friends, ex-lovers, childhood friends or coworkers, so you can rekindle the friendships that you have made over time. Search by area codes or zip codes.