How Easy Is It to Find a Job in South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota?

When it comes to looking for - and landing - that next job, it comes down to what folks in real estate have known for years: location, location, location.

To prove that not all job markets are created equal, Resume.io analyzed over 100,000 LinkedIn job ads to find where the Most (and Least) Competitive Jobs in 2024 are located.

They calculated the average number of applicants that job ads receive within one week of being posted on LinkedIn Jobs in every U.S. state.

The numbers show, not surprisingly, that the fewer people a state has, the less competitive the job market.

That’s good news for job seekers in South Dakota.

The Mount Rushmore State averaged just 4.12 applicants per open position, which is the third fewest in America behind only Wyoming (3.64) and Alaska (3.92).

LEAST COMPETITIVE STATES FOR JOB SEEKERS

1. Wyoming
2. Alaska
3. South Dakota
4. North Dakota
5. Montana
6. Vermont
7. West Virginia
8. Maine
9. Mississippi
10. New Hampshire

Iowa landed just outside the least competitive Top Ten (12th) with 9.4 applicants per job.

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As for the places where the job market is full on ‘dog eat dog’, one state stands head and shoulders ahead of the rest.

Washington has a whopping 41 applicants per job, which is 13 more than the next closest state (Colorado (28.11). Washington’s numbers are driven in large part by the job market in Seattle, which has increased by 445.4% over the past year — the fastest of any market in the world.

MOST COMPETITIVE STATES FOR JOB SEEKERS

1. Washington
2. Colorado
3. Massachusetts
4. New York
5. New Jersey
6. Arizona
7. Florida
8. Georgia
9. Illinois
10. Pennsylvania

To find the city with the most competitive job market in America, you’ll need to head to Silicon Valley in Northern California, where the average job ad attracts 153.77 applicants.