BY NATIONAL PERSONAL FINANCE ORGANIZATION WALLETHUB
Looking for a job in a rewarding work environment in California? Your best bet is the city of San Ramon, according to the national personal finance organization Wallet Hub.
WalletHub ranked San Ramon at the top among 254 California cities. WalletHub used sixteen “key metrics.” The organization included the metrics under two broad “dimensions” - “job market” and “socioeconomics”– and ranked each metric on a scale of 0 to 100 to generate a total score.
Examples of the metrics included job opportunities, monthly average starting salary, employment growth, unemployment rate, employment benefits, safety and social life. In addition, WalletHub included metrics for housing and transportation costs, “disability-friendliness” of employers and share of workers in poverty.
The WalletHub study – “2018’s Best & Worst California Cities for Finding a Job” – gave San Ramon a total score of 70.4 and Danville was ranked third with a score of 68.5.
“We are honored and elated that San Ramon continues to be recognized for its great quality of life and as a hub for rewarding employment opportunities,” said Mayor Bill Clarkson. “San Ramon has earned a national reputation as a great place to live and work.”
The WalletHub honors marks the third time this year that San Ramon has been ranked at the top by a national organization which analyzes the factors people deem most important in choosing a city to live, raise a family, work and play.
In October San Ramon was ranked as the third safest city in California – and second safest in the Bay Area – by the national online security and home safety resource organization SafeWise.
In September, WalletHub ranked San Ramon as the “best place to raise a family” in the Bay Area and the second-best location among all California cities for families looking to put down roots.
The recognition by the organizations underscores that San Ramon – with its highly-regarded schools, economic opportunity, natural beauty, overall safety and access to good medical care– deserves its reputation as one of the gems of the Golden State. “The studies validate that San Ramon is one of the nation’s best cities in America for economic and educational opportunity and overall quality of life,” said Vice Mayor Phil O’Loane.
WalletHub used data from various federal agencies for the study which concluded that “things are looking good for job seekers in California.” According to WalletHub, California added 339,600 new jobs in September alone. And the state’s unemployment rate – which peaked at 12.2 percent during the financial crisis (the highest in seven decades) – has declined to a “healthy” 4.1 percent today. California boasts a $2.6 trillion economy which is larger than the economies of all but five countries, the organization stated.
Earlier this year, San Ramon was cited as a leader in job growth in the Bay Area which remains a magnet for people across the world despite high housing costs and heavy traffic.
San Ramon also made news in November with the opening of a new world-class, 300,000-square foot retail, entertainment and cultural center – City Center at Bishop Ranch – designed by an internationally-renowned architect. San Ramon is also an engine of high-tech and “green” innovation such as driverless buses at Bishop Ranch and a hydrogen fueling station on Norris Canyon Road.
With a population of approximately 80,000, San Ramon has an extensive system of parks– the most per capita among San Francisco Bay Area cities – and also contains several large parks operated by the East Bay Regional Park District. Located 35 miles east of San Francisco, San Ramon is one of the most diverse cities in the Bay Area and is marked by scenic hills that harbor a wide range of plants and wildlife. It encompasses 18.56 square miles and is surrounded by the communities of Danville and Dublin as well as unincorporated lands in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.