{"h1":"Best all-round cities for new graduates in the Great Lakes","faq":[{"a":"Springfield is the best all-round city for new graduates in the Great Lakes, with a score of 70 / 100.","q":"Which city ranks first: best all-round cities for new graduates in the great lakes?"},{"a":"16 cities have at least 100 openings, so the list has 16 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"A city's score is the weighted average of its percentile rank on each measure among the ranked cities (100 is first, 0 is last): entry-level share of openings 40%, pay after cost of living 25%, entry-level openings 20%, openings with pay posted 15%. A score of 100 would mean first on every measure and 50 is the middle of the pack. The measures and weights are fixed in advance and shown here; they are a judgment about what matters to this reader, so use the single-measure rankings when one thing matters most. Only cities with enough openings and pay data are ranked. A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.","q":"How is the ranking calculated?"},{"a":"Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.","q":"How often is it updated?"}],"lead":"Springfield is the best all-round city for new graduates in the Great Lakes, with a score of 70 / 100.","minN":100,"rows":[{"n":323,"bar":1,"key":"IL|springfield","sub":"IL","href":"/places/illinois/city/springfield","name":"Springfield","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"37%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$125k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"121"}],"value":70.33333333333333,"change":null,"employers":["State of Illinois","Army National Guard Units","Hshs Medical Group"],"valueLabel":"70 / 100"},{"n":1451,"bar":0.9004739336492892,"key":"OH|cincinnati","sub":"OH","href":"/places/ohio/city/cincinnati","name":"Cincinnati","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"38%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$115k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"551"}],"value":63.33333333333334,"change":null,"employers":["Medpace Holdings","Procter & Gamble","Western & Southern Financial Group"],"valueLabel":"63 / 100"},{"n":255,"bar":0.8909952606635072,"key":"IL|mundelein","sub":"IL","href":"/places/illinois/city/mundelein","name":"Mundelein","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"35%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$134k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"88"}],"value":62.66666666666667,"change":null,"employers":["Coda Search│Staffing"],"valueLabel":"63 / 100"},{"n":2024,"bar":0.7867298578199052,"key":"OH|columbus","sub":"OH","href":"/places/ohio/city/columbus","name":"Columbus","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"34%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$120k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"693"}],"value":55.33333333333333,"change":null,"employers":["State of Ohio","Nationwide","American Electric Power"],"valueLabel":"55 / 100"},{"n":8033,"bar":0.7725118483412324,"key":"IL|chicago","sub":"IL","href":"/places/illinois/city/chicago","name":"Chicago","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"22%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$135k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"1,759"}],"value":54.33333333333334,"change":null,"employers":["Publicis Groupe","Confidential","Mars"],"valueLabel":"54 / 100"},{"n":362,"bar":0.7440758293838864,"key":"MI|ann arbor","sub":"MI","href":"/places/michigan/city/ann-arbor","name":"Ann Arbor","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"25%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$159k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"91"}],"value":52.33333333333334,"change":null,"employers":["May Mobility","Torc Robotics","Thomson Reuters"],"valueLabel":"52 / 100"},{"n":917,"bar":0.7061611374407583,"key":"OH|cleveland","sub":"OH","href":"/places/ohio/city/cleveland","name":"Cleveland","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"35%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$108k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"319"}],"value":49.66666666666666,"change":null,"employers":["Flexjet","Sherwin Williams","KeyBank"],"valueLabel":"50 / 100"},{"n":526,"bar":0.7014218009478674,"key":"WI|madison","sub":"WI","href":"/places/wisconsin/city/madison","name":"Madison","rank":8,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"37%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$112k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"193"}],"value":49.33333333333334,"change":null,"employers":["Universities of Wisconsin [UW_Madison]","Creative Financial Staffing","Catalent Pharma Solutions"],"valueLabel":"49 / 100"},{"n":1496,"bar":0.6966824644549764,"key":"IN|indianapolis","sub":"IN","href":"/places/indiana/city/indianapolis","name":"Indianapolis","rank":9,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"28%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$132k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"425"}],"value":49,"change":null,"employers":["Eli Lilly and Company","State of Indiana","Masco"],"valueLabel":"49 / 100"},{"n":446,"bar":0.6966824644549764,"key":"OH|dayton","sub":"OH","href":"/places/ohio/city/dayton","name":"Dayton","rank":10,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"33%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$131k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"147"}],"value":49,"change":null,"employers":["University of Dayton","Modern Technology Solutions","Odyssey Systems Consulting"],"valueLabel":"49 / 100"},{"n":242,"bar":0.6729857819905213,"key":"IL|schaumburg","sub":"IL","href":"/places/illinois/city/schaumburg","name":"Schaumburg","rank":11,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"36%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$110k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"87"}],"value":47.33333333333333,"change":null,"employers":["Motorola Solutions","Fictiv","Zurich"],"valueLabel":"47 / 100"},{"n":232,"bar":0.6398104265402844,"key":"MN|st paul","sub":"MN","href":"/places/minnesota/city/st-paul","name":"St. Paul","rank":12,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"31%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$123k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"73"}],"value":45,"change":null,"employers":["George Konik Associates","Thomson Reuters","Mortenson"],"valueLabel":"45 / 100"},{"n":909,"bar":0.5876777251184835,"key":"WI|milwaukee","sub":"WI","href":"/places/wisconsin/city/milwaukee","name":"Milwaukee","rank":13,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"30%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$122k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"270"}],"value":41.33333333333334,"change":null,"employers":["Michels","Rockwell Automation","Molson Coors Beverage"],"valueLabel":"41 / 100"},{"n":1313,"bar":0.5781990521327014,"key":"MN|minneapolis","sub":"MN","href":"/places/minnesota/city/minneapolis","name":"Minneapolis","rank":14,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"25%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$124k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"325"}],"value":40.66666666666666,"change":null,"employers":["Mortenson","Ameriprise Certificate","U.S. Bank"],"valueLabel":"41 / 100"},{"n":786,"bar":0.5545023696682465,"key":"MI|detroit","sub":"MI","href":"/places/michigan/city/detroit","name":"Detroit","rank":15,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"29%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$126k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"231"}],"value":39,"change":null,"employers":["Wayne State University","Henry Ford Health System","Accident Fund"],"valueLabel":"39 / 100"},{"n":363,"bar":0.4454976303317535,"key":"MN|eden prairie","sub":"MN","href":"/places/minnesota/city/eden-prairie","name":"Eden Prairie","rank":16,"stats":[{"label":"Entry-level share of openings","value":"18%"},{"label":"Pay after cost of living","value":"$141k"},{"label":"Entry-level openings","value":"64"}],"value":31.33333333333333,"change":null,"employers":["Unitedhealth Group","LHC Group","Illinois Tool Works"],"valueLabel":"31 / 100"}],"slug":"best-all-round-cities-for-new-graduates-in-the-great-lakes","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"great-lakes","kind":"region","name":"Great Lakes"},"title":"Best all-round cities for new graduates in the Great Lakes","family":"Best overall","method":["A city's score is the weighted average of its percentile rank on each measure among the ranked cities (100 is first, 0 is last): entry-level share of openings 40%, pay after cost of living 25%, entry-level openings 20%, openings with pay posted 15%.","A score of 100 would mean first on every measure and 50 is the middle of the pack. The measures and weights are fixed in advance and shown here; they are a judgment about what matters to this reader, so use the single-measure rankings when one thing matters most.","Only cities with enough openings and pay data are ranked.","A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score."],"builtAt":"2026-11-04T03:37:37.436Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"cgrad","sources":["NextChapter job data: open professional roles and posted pay","Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities 2024"],"baseline":null,"keyFacts":["#1 Springfield, IL: 70 / 100","#2 Cincinnati, OH: 63 / 100","#3 Mundelein, IL: 63 / 100","16 cities ranked in the Great Lakes","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The top ten is tightly packed: Springfield leads on 70 / 100, and #10 Dayton is at 49 / 100.","Mundelein reaches #3 on a sample of 255 openings, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.","Chicago is the largest market in the top ten, with 8,033 openings behind its figure.","Cities with fewer than 100 openings are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful."],"license":"Free to use and share with a link to https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-all-round-cities-for-new-graduates-in-the-great-lakes"}