Metro Movers: Where Are Americans Moving for Jobs, And Is It Worth It? - Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D., Chief Economist, Glassdoor
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RESEARCH REPORT Metro Movers: Where Are Americans Moving for Jobs, And Is It Worth It? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D., Chief Economist, Glassdoor
Executive Summary
• Moving for a job is a big decision. Where are job seekers in the United
States applying to jobs in 2018? And what makes them more likely to move
to a new city?
• This study uses a large sample of more than 668,000 online job applications
during a typical week on Glassdoor to illustrate real-time trends in work-
related migration among the 40 biggest metros in the U.S.
• While the typical job seeker on Glassdoor is highly selective and applies
to 5.2 jobs per week on average, that varies widely, with many power users
applying to 20 or more jobs per week.
• On average, 28.5 percent of started job applications are to a new metro area.
Which factors statistically drive “metro movers” — job seekers located in
one metro, but start a job application in another metro — to apply to jobs
and companies elsewhere?
• Salary drives candidates to move. But the effect is small. An extra $10,000
higher base salary predicts candidates are about a half percentage point
(0.41 percentage points) more likely to be a metro mover — a statistically
significant, but small effect.
• Better company culture is more attractive. Having a 1-star higher overall
Glassdoor rating predicts candidates will be 2.5 percentage points more
likely to move metros for a job. That’s statistically significant, and roughly
six times larger than the impact of offering $10,000 higher pay.
• Younger workers are more likely to move. Adding roughly ten years to
an applicant’s age predicts they’ll be 7 percentage points less likely to be
a metro mover. For employers who want to hire experienced candidates
from other metros, recruiters may need to compensate with salary
premiums or excellent workplace culture.
• Men are more likely to move metros. Even after controlling for job titles,
education and age, men are 3.3 percentage points more likely to apply to
jobs in another metro. Employers looking to attract women need to make
a conscious outreach effort — particularly for tech and engineering 3 Introduction
roles, which have many metro movers. 4 Who Are America’s
Metro Movers
• Movers are more educated. Workers with a master’s degree are about 22 Which Job Factors Most
Attract Metro Movers
4.9 percentage points more likely to be willing to move metros for a job. By
25 Conclusion
contrast, those with a two-year associate’s degree are least likely to move
metros for a job.METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
I. Introduction
Moving for a job is an important life decision that, Glassdoor has a unique window into real-time job search
for many, can open up new doors and opportunities. patterns in America today, including the factors that are
According to a 2016 survey by consultancy Kelton most enticing Americans to pick up and move. This is
Global, 77 percent of Americans say they’re willing to because Glassdoor is one of the world’s largest jobs and
relocate for jobs, while 86 percent of Millennials say recruiting sites, with rich data on the job search process
they’re willing to move for work. Among those who
1
and nearly 40 million reviews and insights on all aspects
do move, jobs are a key driver. According to the Census of the workplace at companies around the world. In this
Bureau, 18.5 percent of Americans who moved in study, we use a large sample of more than 668,000 online
2017 did so for job-related reasons — the third most job applications started on Glassdoor during a typical
common factor, after housing reasons and changing week in January 2018 to illustrate trends in job-related
family situations. 2
migration among the 40 largest metro areas in the U.S.
Where are Americans moving to for jobs in 2018? What The rest of this study is organized as follows: In Section
kinds of applicants are most likely to relocate between II, we present several facts about metro movers, or
cities? And why are they moving for jobs — higher pay, Americans who are located in one metro, but start job
better workplace culture or some other reason? applications in another metro, on Glassdoor, including top
city destinations, top companies applicants are willing to
While government surveys reveal patterns in where move for and the most and least mobile job seekers. In
Americans are moving for work, the results often lag Section III, we estimate a simple statistical model to show
years behind — making it hard to track real-time patterns which factors best predict candidates will move for jobs:
in today’s rapidly evolving workforce. Plus, Census salary, company ratings, or demographic characteristics
surveys only show movers’ final destination. They don’t of candidates themselves. In Section IV, we conclude and
tell us anything about the top cities Americans are summarize lessons for employers aiming to attract metro
seriously considering when making critical decisions to movers to their open positions.
move for jobs.
1. “Career Trends Report,” (2016), Question #20. Cornerstone OnDemand. Available online at https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/sites/default/files/whitepaper/csod-wp-
career-trends-report.pdf.
2. “Declining Mover Rate Driven by Renters, Census Bureau Reports,” (November 15, 2017), U.S. Census Bureau news release. Available online at https://www.census.gov/news-
room/press-releases/2017/mover-rates.html.
3METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
II. Who Are America’s Metro Movers?
Who are the people that will move for a job? What characteristics about metro movers on
Glassdoor make them more likely to move than their counterparts within the U.S. workforce?
In this section, we explain who these candidates are, how they search for jobs on Glassdoor, and
provide a data-driven profile of America’s most geographically mobile job seekers today.
Let’s have a look at the online labor market we observe at Glassdoor, and the trends we see
within job-related migration in 2018.
About the Data
The data used in this study are from online job To estimate salary for each job applied to, we applied
applications on Glassdoor. We use a large sample of job Glassdoor’s proprietary salary estimates model to each
applications started by Glassdoor users during a typical job listing, which estimates median base pay. In addi-
week from January 8, 2018 through January 14, 2018. tion, we linked each job posting to the overall Glassdoor
rating for the hiring employer, allowing us to quantify
The sample consists of 668,146 started job applications the workplace culture for each job applied to. Finally,
from 128,221 unique users who applied to jobs using a we collected basic demographic information about job
desktop computer in any of the 40 largest U.S. metros by seekers such as gender, age and education to provide a
population. Overall, the sample is 59 percent male and well-rounded profile of which Americans are moving for
41 percent female, with an average age of 34.7 years. jobs today and why.
Using anonymized location information, we recorded
the metro location of each job seeker, as well as the lo- In this study, all personal information was statistically
cation of each job they applied to, allowing us to identify anonymized — no personally identifying information of
“metro movers” who are aiming to relocate for work. In any kind was used in this research.
our sample, 477,848 applications were within the same
metro while 190,298 were to different metros.
4METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Why Metros?
At Glassdoor, our metro areas are based on “core based By looking only at metro movers — rather than those
statistical areas” or CBSAs. They are defined as a large applying to jobs across city, county or state lines —
city with at least 10,000 in population, plus all nearby we’re focused on job seekers trying to migrate for jobs
areas that are socially and economically linked, as between two economically different areas. Our goal is
defined by commute-to-work patterns.* to measure economically meaningful job moves, which
metro areas do a good job of capturing.
When job seekers leave a metro area, they are leaving
a well-defined economic region — not just crossing over * Core based statistical areas are defined by the
into a nearby town. Because metros include large cities U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and
and all nearby areas where people commonly commute are widely used by the Census Bureau and other
to, those moving between metros for jobs are making statistical agencies. More information is available at
a major life change — something we wanted to quantify https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/gtc/gtc_cbsa.html.
in this study.
A. Glassdoor’s Window Into the Job Market of America’s roughly 160 million person labor force. By
observing real-time job search and application behavior,
With each passing year, the online labor market more data from Glassdoor offer a unique window into what’s
closely resembles the actual U.S. labor market. According happening today in the nation’s fast-changing labor market.
to a 2015 study from the Pew Research Center, 79
percent of Americans who are looking for jobs do so For this study, we compiled a large sample of online job
online. Among those who job search online, 28 percent applications started on Glassdoor during a typical week
use a smartphone, with half of them applying to at least in January 2018 — a period after the holiday season when
one job from their mobile device. Just as shopping,
3
many Americans are back at work and putting New Year’s
social networking, dating and other parts of daily life have resolutions into practice by looking for new jobs online.
moved online in recent years, the gap between real-world
and online job search behavior is rapidly vanishing. In total, our sample includes 668,146 online job
applications started on Glassdoor. What do we mean
That makes information from today’s online job platforms by “started”? When users search for jobs on Glassdoor,
more valuable than ever for understanding the U.S. labor they’re shown an “apply now” button for each job posting
market. Glassdoor alone represents a significant share of they view (see Figure 1). A job application is started
online job search activity in America, with more than anytime a user clicks that button and begins the
5 million U.S. job postings being matched up with 57 application process. Those data are the basis for the
million unique visitors per month — a significant share
4
analysis in this study.
3. “Searching for Work in the Digital Era,” (November 19, 2015) by Aaron Smith. Pew Research Center report. Available online at http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/11/19/search-
ing-for-work-in-the-digital-era/.
4. Source: Glassdoor internal statistics, March 2018.
5METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Figure 1. Starting an Online
Job Application on Glassdoor
It’s important to note that we don’t know the final result
of whether the job applicants we’ve identified actually
moved to a new job. However, started job applications
data show us economic intent to move, which unlike job
clicks, are a much more credible signal and are less noisy
than simply counting how many times an online job has
been viewed or “clicked” on. Applications are costly to
job seekers in terms of time and effort. Those who take
the extra step of applying are typically more serious
about moving for jobs than those simply browsing job
listings online.
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (glassdoor.com/research/)
How Americans Look for Jobs Online
How often do Americans apply to jobs online? Figure 2 which roles they actually apply to after reading reviews,
shows the distribution of job applications started per browsing salaries, and comparing job listings. Our
week among job candidates in our sample. On average, data show there are also a small number of Glassdoor
candidates apply to 5.2 jobs per week. However, the “power users”, or job seekers who applied to 20 or
distribution is highly uneven. Most candidates apply more jobs per week in our sample. These are the
to just one or two jobs per week. Although job seekers most active job seekers today.
click on many job listings, they’re highly selective about
Figure 2. Most Candidates on Glassdoor Are Highly Selective and Apply to Five or Fewer Jobs Per Week
Number of Job Seekers
Average = 5.2 job applications per week
Job Applications Per Week
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (glassdoor.com/research/)
6METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
When it comes to where Americans apply to jobs, our Figure 3. 28.5 Percent of Job Applications Are from Metro
data show most stay close to home. In our sample, 71.5 Movers Who Apply to Jobs Outside Their Metro Area
percent of job applications were to jobs in job seekers’
same metro area. By comparison, 28.5 percent were to
roles in a different metro area (see Figure 3).
28.5%
Although as we’ll see below, even those aiming to move
Applied to Job
metros usually target nearby metro areas rather than in Different
cross-country moves. In this study, we refer to these Metro
71.5%
geographically mobile job applicants as “metro movers.”
Applied to Job
in Same Metro
In the following sections, we’ll take a closer look at these
metro movers and the types of jobs, companies and Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
cities they are most attracted to in 2018.
B. The Top Destinations for Job Movers
What cities are most attractive to the nation’s more The megalopolis of New York City attracted the second
geographically mobile job seekers? Table 1 shows the highest share of metro movers at 8.4 percent, followed
top ten destinations for metro movers in America as by the Silicon Valley stronghold San Jose, then Los
of January 2018, out of the 40 metros we examined, Angeles, Washington D.C. and Boston — all metros with
along with the top five metro sources where these thriving job markets that attract ambitious talent. Also
job seekers are moving from. among the top ten are several smaller tech hubs includ-
ing Seattle and Austin, as well as larger metros that have
The booming tech hub of San Francisco was the maintained relatively more affordable cost of living such
top destination for metro movers in our sample. as Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago.
San Francisco alone attracted 12.4 percent of all
applications by job seekers looking to move cities in In general, these top destinations attract most candi-
our sample — by far the largest of any U.S. metro. dates from nearby metro areas. For example, the top
Despite housing shortages and a high cost of living, sources for candidates aiming to relocate to San Francis-
the San Francisco metro continues to be a hub for co are two other large California metros: San Jose and
economic opportunity and a magnet for the nation’s Los Angeles. Similarly, the top sources for those aiming
most geographically mobile job seekers in 2018. to move to New York City include nearby Washington
D.C., Philadelphia and Boston. However, as we will
explore further below, a significant share of metro
movers still aim to relocate across the country for jobs.
7METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Table 1. Top Destinations for Metro Movers in January 2018
Destination Metro Percentage of Metro Movers Top 5 City Sources of Movers
San Jose, CA
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA 12.4% New York City, NY
Sacramento, CA
Chicago, IL
Washington, DC
Philadelphia, PA
New York City, NY 8.4% Boston, MA
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
San Francisco, CA
Los Angeles, CA
San Jose, CA 6.9% New York City, NY
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
San Diego, CA
Riverside, CA
New York City, NY
Los Angeles, CA 6.8% San Francisco, CA
San Diego, CA
San Jose, CA
Baltimore, MD
New York City, NY
Washington, DC 4.3% Philadelphia, PA
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
New York City, NY
Providence, RI
Boston, MA 3.7% Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL
Washington, DC
New York City, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL 3.2% Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
Washington, DC
Milwaukee, WI
Los Angeles, CA
New York City, NY
Seattle, WA 3.1% San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
Houston, TX
New York City, NY
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 2.8% Austin, TX
Chicago, IL
Los Angeles, CA
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
Houston, TX
Austin, TX 2.3% San Antonio, TX
New York City, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
8METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
C. Metros with the Most Movers
For the nation as a whole, about 28.5 percent of job ap- by San Jose-based searchers were for a job in a different
plications are to jobs outside of a job seekers’ metro area. metro area. That may come as a surprise to many, as San
However, the number of job seekers within a single city Jose is a booming city with many tech jobs and rising pay.
that are ready to pick up and move varies widely. In Table However, it’s also one facing an astoundingly high cost
2, we show the 40 metro areas we examined, along with of living, with a median home price near $1.08 million
the percentage of metro movers in each. At the top of according to Zillow.5 As tech hiring spreads to many cities
the table are areas with the biggest fraction of applicants beyond Silicon Valley, it’s likely competing metros are
willing to move to greener economic pastures elsewhere. luring away many candidates.6 A combination of booming
jobs and rising cost of living puts San Jose near the top
The college town of Providence, Rhode Island topped of two lists: It’s the third most common destination for
the list of metro areas with the highest percentage of candidates from other metros, but it’s also the second
applicants looking to move elsewhere. In fact, 52.2 highest metro in terms of candidates looking to leave —
percent of job applications started on Glassdoor by the most dynamic flow of job candidates among any city
Providence-based candidates were to another metro we examined.
area — the largest among the 40 cities we examined.
Why? One reason is geography: Providence is a 1.5 hour Other cities topping the list for having higher percentag-
drive from the large and fast-growing Boston metro. es of metro movers are Riverside, California; Baltimore,
Additionally, Providence is home to several colleges and Maryland; and Sacramento, California. What do these
universities — Brown University, the Rhode Island School metros have in common? For one, they are all in close
of Design, Providence College and others — providing a proximity to other fast-growing metros with more
steady stream of graduates applying to jobs elsewhere. robust job markets, a combination that acts as a magnet
drawing away applicants. In each case, these cities are
The metro with the second highest share of metro movers a 1.5 hour drive from Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and
lies in the heart of Silicon Valley: San Jose, California. San Francisco, respectively.
Just under half (47.6 percent) of job applications started
5. “San Jose Home Prices & Values,” Zillow (accessed March 23, 2018). Available online at https://www.zillow.com/san-jose-ca/home-values/.
6. “Beyond Silicon Valley: Tech Jobs Spreading Out of Tech Hubs,” (July 2017) by Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D. Glassdoor Economic Research report. Available online at
https://www.glassdoor.com/research/beyond-silicon-valley-tech-jobs-spreading-out-of-tech-hubs/.
9METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Table 2. Ranking By Percentage of Metro Movers in 2018
Jobs Applied To Percentage
Metro of Job Candidate Metro Movers
(One Week Period in January 2018) Metro Movers
Providence, RI 4,136 2,158 52.2%
San Jose, CA 26,593 12,666 47.6%
Riverside, CA 8,787 4,154 47.3%
Baltimore, MD 9,372 4,278 45.6%
Sacramento, CA 6,490 2,883 44.4%
Columbus, OH 5,494 2,277 41.4%
Pittsburgh, PA 6,119 2,404 39.3%
Charlotte, NC 9,344 3,525 37.7%
Cincinnati, OH 5,216 1,889 36.2%
Cleveland, OH 4,693 1,655 35.3%
Milwaukee, WI 3,497 1,230 35.2%
Norfolk, VA 3,366 1,174 34.9%
San Antonio, TX 5,352 1,859 34.7%
San Diego, CA 13,207 4,421 33.5%
Washington, DC 35,782 11,482 32.1%
Orlando, FL 8,429 2,676 31.7%
Philadelphia, PA 19,037 5,989 31.5%
San Francisco, CA 39,798 12,481 31.4%
Indianapolis, IN 5,419 1,698 31.3%
Detroit, MI 11,286 3,381 30.0%
Nashville, TN 4,633 1,383 29.9%
Boston, MA 25,356 7,411 29.2%
Tampa, FL 9,496 2,754 29.0%
Kansas City, MO 5,832 1,656 28.4%
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 34,261 9,618 28.1%
Phoenix, AZ 14,491 4,044 27.9%
Portland, OR 7,523 2,031 27.0%
St. Louis, MO 6,365 1,695 26.6%
Denver, CO 11,671 3,094 26.5%
Austin, TX 11,617 3,044 26.2%
Jacksonville, FL 3,327 861 25.9%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL 18,292 4,715 25.8%
Los Angeles, CA 56,290 14,003 24.9%
Houston, TX 24,601 6,105 24.8%
Chicago, IL 42,348 10,092 23.8%
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 9,297 2,177 23.4%
Atlanta, GA 26,599 5,779 21.7%
Las Vegas, NV 5,434 1,155 21.3%
Seattle, WA 20,643 4,235 20.5%
New York City, NY 98,653 20,166 20.4%
Total 668,146 190,298 28.5%
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
10METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
What about cities with the fewest metro movers? The important factor to consider when choosing office loca-
metro with the fewest share of applicants looking to tions, as it can dramatically impact their ability to attract
move is America’s largest metro: New York City. With job candidates from outside their metro area.
more than 20 million residents, just 20.4 percent of
applications from New York City job seekers were to D. Where Applicants Want to Go
jobs outside that metro. It’s followed by Seattle —
a fast-growing tech hub that’s home to e-commerce Among the metros with a significant percentage of job
giant Amazon, as well as Microsoft, T-Mobile and many seekers leaving – where do they want to go? In Table 3,
others — where 20.5 percent of applications were to jobs we show the top ten metro destinations most appealing
elsewhere. Other metros including Las Vegas, Atlanta to job applicants in each of the ten metros with the most
and Minneapolis also saw the fewest metro movers. movers, revealing the cities that are competing
for talent.
What do these cities have in common? Most have a com-
paratively low cost of living, abundant local job opportu- Overall, there are several interesting patterns. First,
nities, and — perhaps most importantly — are located far each city appears to follow a phenomenon economists
from the nearest metro area. Seattle, for example, lies call a “gravity model.” All else equal, job candidates apply
more than three hours away from Portland, Oregon, a to jobs in nearby metros rather than those far away. For
distance that’s enough to discourage many metro mov- example, among candidates looking to leave Providence,
ers. Similarly, Las Vegas lies four hours away from either more than 30 percent apply to jobs in the nearby Boston
Los Angeles or Phoenix, and Atlanta lies four hours away metro. More distant metros still attract a significant,
from either Nashville or Charlotte. although much smaller, number of applications from
Providence, including New York, San Francisco, Chicago
For employers, this shows that geography — in addition and Salt Lake City.
to cost of living, taxes, pay and company culture — is an
Table 3. Top 10 Destinations for Job Applicants from Each Metro
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: PROVIDENCE, RI
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
Boston, MA 30.1% 1,247
New York City, NY 4.6% 191
Worcester, MA 1.6% 67
San Francisco, CA 1.4% 58
Washington, DC 1.1% 44
Chicago, IL 0.9% 36
Salt Lake City, UT 0.8% 32
Los Angeles, CA 0.7% 28
Hartford, CT 0.7% 27
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 0.6% 26
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
11METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: SAN JOSE, CA
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
San Francisco, CA 28.9% 7,686
Los Angeles, CA 2.8% 751
New York City, NY 2.2% 598
Seattle, WA 1.5% 392
San Diego, CA 1.0% 272
Boston, MA 1.0% 270
Chicago, IL 0.7% 189
Washington, DC 0.6% 168
Austin, TX 0.5% 127
Sacramento, CA 0.5% 123
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: RIVERSIDE, CA
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
Los Angeles, CA 27.8% 2,439
San Diego, CA 4.4% 384
San Francisco, CA 3.3% 290
San Jose, CA 1.6% 142
Seattle, WA 1.1% 93
New York City, NY 0.8% 72
Las Vegas, NV 0.6% 54
Phoenix, AZ 0.6% 50
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 0.5% 45
Portland, OR 0.4% 39
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: BALTIMORE, MD
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
Washington, DC 23.6% 2,216
New York City, NY 3.6% 341
Philadelphia, PA 1.5% 140
San Francisco, CA 1.2% 110
San Jose, CA 0.9% 84
Los Angeles, CA 0.9% 83
Boston, MA 0.8% 76
Chicago, IL 0.7% 63
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 0.6% 58
Atlanta, GA 0.6% 54
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
12METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: SACRAMENTO, CA
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
San Francisco, CA 16.8% 1,090
San Jose, CA 5.6% 362
Los Angeles, CA 4.1% 269
New York City, NY 1.3% 86
San Diego, CA 1.2% 80
Washington, DC 1.1% 71
Boston, MA 0.9% 60
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 0.9% 59
Chicago, IL 0.7% 47
Portland, OR 0.7% 43
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: COLUMBUS, OH
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
New York City, NY 4.5% 249
San Francisco, CA 3.9% 212
Chicago, IL 2.6% 142
Cincinnati, OH 2.3% 127
Seattle, WA 2.1% 116
Cleveland, OH 1.9% 105
Los Angeles, CA 1.5% 83
Washington, DC 1.5% 82
San Jose, CA 1.4% 75
Boston, MA 1.1% 60
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: PITTSBURGH, PA
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
San Francisco, CA 5.1% 310
New York City, NY 4.5% 278
San Jose, CA 3.2% 197
Washington, DC 2.6% 162
Philadelphia, PA 1.8% 108
Los Angeles, CA 1.6% 96
Boston, MA 1.5% 92
Seattle, WA 1.4% 83
Chicago, IL 1.1% 68
Atlanta, GA 0.7% 45
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
13METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: CHARLOTTE, NC
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
New York City, NY 3.5% 327
San Francisco, CA 2.5% 236
Raleigh-Durham, NC 2.3% 213
Washington, DC 2.1% 192
San Jose, CA 1.6% 151
Atlanta, GA 1.5% 144
Boston, MA 1.5% 144
Chicago, IL 1.5% 139
Seattle, WA 1.4% 135
Los Angeles, CA 1.3% 125
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: CINCINNATI, OH
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
New York City, NY 2.9% 151
Dayton, OH 2.7% 140
Columbus, OH 2.6% 135
San Francisco, CA 2.4% 123
Chicago, IL 1.7% 89
San Jose, CA 1.4% 73
Los Angeles, CA 1.3% 70
Boston, MA 1.3% 66
Washington, DC 1.2% 61
Atlanta, GA 1.1% 58
METRO OF JOB CANDIDATE: CLEVELAND, OH
Top 10 Job Destinations Percentage of Jobs Applied To Number of Jobs Applied To
Akron, OH 4.8% 224
Chicago, IL 3.0% 139
Columbus, OH 2.4% 114
New York City, NY 2.1% 100
Washington, DC 1.8% 84
Los Angeles, CA 1.7% 81
San Francisco, CA 1.3% 61
Seattle, WA 1.2% 58
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 0.8% 39
Cincinnati, OH 0.8% 37
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
14METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
E. Top Companies Applicants Consider
Worth the Move
When job seekers move to a new metro, they often do By contrast, the labor market in New York City is much
so for a specific company. Rather than choosing a new more diversified. Top employers attracting outside talent
city, applicants usually first choose a new employer or to New York City include a mix of more established
job that offers a unique opportunity, great pay or pleas- institutions such as JP Morgan Chase, NBC Universal and
ant company culture. Among the top metro destinations Goldman Sachs with tech employers like Spotify, Google
attracting metro movers, which companies attract the and IBM.
most applicants?
The Washington D.C. metro differs sharply both from
Table 4 shows a list of the top ten employers within the New York City and San Francisco with a more traditional
cities attracting the most metro movers, as identified and establishment mix. Top employers in the D.C. area are
above. What’s striking is the diversity of employers and health care companies like Vibrent Health, government
industries attracting talent in each metro — a finding that contractors like CACI International, consulting firms like
underscores the huge differences that persist among Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte, and educational insti-
labor markets in America’s largest cities today. tutions like the University of Maryland.
For example, in the fast-growing tech hub of San Francis- Taken together, these patterns in real-time job appli-
co, nearly every top employer attracting metro movers cations on Glassdoor are simply a mirror that reflects
is a high-profile tech giant: Facebook, Salesforces, Lyft, well-known cultural and economic differences among
Uber, AirBnb and Yelp, among others. Only one non-tech U.S. cities, and the resulting patterns of jobs and pay that
employer made San Francisco’s top 10 list: Walmart, we observe throughout the nation. It’s well known that
which is expanding its e-commerce presence and hires the labor market in Washington D.C. differs substantially
many tech roles such as software engineers, data from San Francisco in terms of employers hiring, jobs
scientists and others. For employers in the San Francisco available and pay. The rich and diverse economic geogra-
metro, this suggests they’re not only competing with the phy of the nation is clearly apparent in online job applica-
tech sector to hire local talent, but also for candidates tions data from Glassdoor.
outside the area aiming to relocate for tech jobs.
15METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Table 4. Companies Attracting the Most Metro Movers in Top Cities
DESTINATION METRO: SAN FRANCISCO, CA DESTINATION METRO: SAN JOSE, CA
Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications
Attracting Talent from “Movers” Attracting Talent from “Movers”
Facebook, Inc. 635 Google Inc. 519
Salesforce 291 Apple Inc. 358
Lyft 240 Adobe Systems Incorporated 315
Uber 240 NVIDIA Corporation 277
Shutterfly, Inc. 237 Amazon.com, Inc. 253
AirBnb, Inc. 228 Udacity 243
Yelp Inc. 223 Quora, Inc. 198
Fitbit Inc. 202 Yahoo! Inc. 195
Google Inc. 188 Cisco Systems, Inc. 169
International Business
Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC 188 169
Machines Corporation
DESTINATION METRO: NEW YORK CITY, NY DESTINATION METRO: LOS ANGELES, CA
Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications
Attracting Talent from “Movers” Attracting Talent from “Movers”
JPMorgan Chase & Co. 157 The Walt Disney Company 270
Spotify Limited 150 NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab 165
The Goldman Sachs Group,
122 NBC Universal, Inc. 129
Inc.
Justworks, INC. 117 Netflix, Inc. 128
Home Box Office, Inc. 110 Viacom Inc. 106
International Business Sony Computer
109 101
Machines Corporation Entertainment America
NBC Universal, Inc. 107 CyberCoders, Inc. 96
International Business
McKinsey & Company, Inc. 103 92
Machines Corporation
Google Inc. 95 University of California 92
Oscar Insurance Corporation 94 Snap, Inc. 87
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
16METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
DESTINATION METRO: WASHINGTON, D.C. DESTINATION METRO: CHICAGO, IL
Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications
Attracting Talent from “Movers” Attracting Talent from “Movers”
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. 139 Motorola Solutions, Inc. 93
International Business
130 Citadel Securities LLC 66
Machines Corporation
Latitude Inc. 72 TransUnion LLC 58
International Business
Ecosystems 70 51
Machines Corporation
Johns Hopkins University
67 AKUNA CAPITAL 47
Applied Physics Laboratory
Vibrent Health 61 Discover Financial Services 45
Leidos Holdings, Inc. 58 Groupon, Inc. 44
CACI International Inc 54 McKinsey & Company, Inc. 44
Deloitte 54 Relativity 41
The University of Maryland 53 Shure Incorporated 41
DESTINATION METRO: BOSTON, MA DESTINATION METRO: SEATTLE, WA
Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications
Attracting Talent from “Movers” Attracting Talent from “Movers”
Bose Corporation 95 Amazon.com, Inc. 536
Massachusetts General
85 Microsoft Corporation 209
Hospital
International Business
80 T-Mobile USA, Inc. 99
Machines Corporation
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
76 Zillow, Inc. 97
Incorporated
McKinsey & Company, Inc. 72 Google Inc. 95
Wayfair 70 Expedia, Inc. 75
Raybeam, Inc. 69 Facebook, Inc. 74
Raytheon Company 63 SAP Aktiengesellschaft 67
The Brigham and Women's
56 Starbucks Corporation 63
Hospital, Inc.
The Boston Consulting
49 Vulcan Inc. 60
Group Inc.
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
17METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
DESTINATION METRO: DALLAS-FORT WORTH, TX DESTINATION METRO: AUSTIN, TX
Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications Top 10 Employers Number of Job Applications
Attracting Talent from “Movers” Attracting Talent from “Movers”
International Business
AMR Corporation 115 103
Machines Corporation
Lockheed Martin
99 Dell Inc. 93
Corporation
The University of Texas
The Allstate Corporation 92 84
at Austin
International Business
80 PayPal, Inc. 72
Machines Corporation
Texas Instruments
64 Silicon Laboratories Inc. 60
Incorporated
Baylor Scott & White Health 48 Facebook, Inc. 45
University of Texas South-
42 Amazon.com, Inc. 44
western Medical Center
Bank of America
39 Cirrus Logic, Inc. 44
Corporation
Texas Health Resources Inc. 38 Electronic Arts Inc. 44
Amazon.com, Inc. 33 NXP Semiconductors N.V. 40
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
F. Jobs That Move Better Than Others
Not all jobs offer the same geographic mobility to workers. administrator (69 percent are metro movers), ATG devel-
Some jobs attract qualified applicants from all over the U.S., oper (67.5 percent are metro movers), industrial engineer
while others draw mostly local talent from the nearby labor (61.9 percent are metro movers) and Salesforce developer
market. Which jobs today are most likely to attract talent (59.7 percent are metro movers).
from distant metros?
Why are tech and engineering jobs so geographically
Table 5 shows the top 25 job titles on Glassdoor with the mobile? Partly, it’s due to labor demand: employers for
largest percentage of metro movers in 2018. The most these roles are often concentrated in a few big metros and
geographically mobile jobs are generally engineering and actively hire talent from across the U.S. It’s also due to labor
tech roles. The most mobile job in our sample was chemical supply: many candidates for tech and engineering roles are
engineer, with 73.1 percent of applications to jobs outside relatively young, highly educated and more willing to pick
the person’s current metro — 2.5 times the overall average up and move cross country for their career.
in our sample. They’re followed by Oracle database
18METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Table 5. Job Titles with the Highest Share of Metro Movers
Job Title Applied To Number of Job Applications Metro Movers Percentage Metro Movers
Chemical Engineer 535 391 73.1%
Oracle Database Administrator 532 367 69.0%
ATG Developer 530 358 67.5%
Industrial Engineer 607 376 61.9%
Salesforce Developer 760 454 59.7%
Flight Attendant 750 447 59.6%
Data Engineer 2,604 1,543 59.3%
Structural Engineer 500 296 59.2%
Mobile Developer 797 469 58.8%
Process Engineer 1,214 702 57.8%
Data Scientist 7,808 4,469 57.2%
Database Administrator 960 549 57.2%
Software Engineer 28,934 16,495 57.0%
Devops Engineer 1,295 727 56.1%
ASIC Physical Design Engineer 574 313 54.5%
Design Engineer 713 385 54.0%
Software Development Engineer 1,679 900 53.6%
Actuarial Analyst 530 276 52.1%
UX Researcher 687 351 51.1%
Network Engineer 2,149 1,092 50.8%
Mechanical Engineer 3,905 1,965 50.3%
Research Scientist 1,099 546 49.7%
Manufacturing Engineer 1,104 546 49.5%
Software Developer 5,134 2,519 49.1%
SQL Developer 519 255 49.1%
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
Which jobs have the lowest share of metro movers? Bartender was the least geographically mobile role with
Table 6 shows the job titles of job seekers least likely to just 8.7 percent of applicants coming from an outside
move. Americans in these roles mostly stay close to home metro. They’re followed by retail representative
and rarely apply to jobs outside their current metro area. (10 percent metro movers), delivery driver (10 percent
metro movers), receptionist (10.1 percent metro movers)
and retail team member (10.3 percent metro movers).
19METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Overall, these roles are lower-skilled positions that are The irony of these “metro stayer” positions is that be-
typically filled from within the local labor market. Salaries cause they’re widely available, you might expect outward
for many of these jobs are below the median U.S. pay of migration from expensive cities toward more affordable
roughly $51,975 per year for full-time workers, making it 7
areas for these roles. For example, candidates for retail
hard to justify a cross-country move for most applicants. representative jobs have their choice of open jobs in
In addition, employers for these roles are widely dis- essentially every U.S. city, unlike a more specialized role
persed throughout the U.S. and are not clustered in just like database engineer that may require living in a high
a few metros like many specialized tech and engineering cost of living metro. So do retail representatives flee to
jobs. Applicants looking for bartender roles, for example, lower cost of living areas? Our data shows lower-skilled
need not move to find an open position — many are avail- candidates are just as likely to stay close to home,
able close to home. regardless of a city’s affordability.
Table 6. Job Titles with the Lowest Share of Metro Movers
Job Title Applied To Job Applications Metro Movers Percentage Metro Movers
Bartender 967 84 8.7%
Retail Representative 988 99 10.0%
Delivery Driver 927 93 10.0%
Receptionist 4,707 477 10.1%
Retail Team Member 3,218 332 10.3%
Front Desk Agent 721 74 10.3%
Barista 1,263 132 10.5%
Bank Teller 1,191 125 10.5%
Forklift Operator 571 60 10.5%
Order Selector 990 106 10.7%
Server 1,468 158 10.8%
Host 795 86 10.8%
Clerk 650 70 10.8%
Customer Service Representative 4,368 486 11.1%
Cashier 3,480 388 11.1%
File Clerk 713 80 11.2%
Housekeeper 847 96 11.3%
Accounts Receivable 799 92 11.5%
Accounting Clerk 737 85 11.5%
Cook 553 64 11.6%
Accounts Payable 839 100 11.9%
Material Handler 787 94 11.9%
Store Manager 2,576 308 12.0%
Accounts Payable Specialist 674 81 12.0%
Office Assistant 1,176 142 12.1%
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
7. Glassdoor “Local Pay Reports,” February 2018 (accessed March 23, 2018). Available online at www.glassdoor.com/research/local-pay-reports/.
20METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
G. Do Metro Movers Earn More?
Many of the most geographically mobile jobs are Figure 4 shows a scatterplot of the relationship between
high-paying roles in tech and engineering. By contrast, pay and geographic mobility among job applicants on
many of the least mobile jobs are lower-skilled jobs in Glassdoor. Each dot is one job title we examined. On the
retail, food services and other blue-collar roles. Do more horizontal axis is the percent of applicants who were
geographically mobile job candidates earn higher pay willing to move for each job. On the vertical axis is the
on average? The short answer: yes, especially if it’s for average estimated base salary for each job applied to for
a tech job. these roles. The blue line shows the best fitting linear
model for the data — a clear positive link between higher
pay and more mobile job applicants.
Figure 4: Geographically Mobile Jobs Generally Earn Higher Pay
Metro Movers Earn Higher Pay
Median Base Pay
(each point represents one job title)
Percentage of Applications Moving to New Metro
Why is there a link between higher pay and a willingness seekers who are willing to move also enjoy more
to move for jobs? It reflects a mixture of both cause and bargaining power. Those who are most geographically
effect: The higher the pay, the more likely the job is to mobile can attract offers from the entire U.S. labor
attract candidates from distant metros, since higher market, rather than just a narrow set of employers in
paying roles justify cross-metro moves. However, job their home area, which often translates into higher pay.
21METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
III. Which Job Factors
Most Attract Metro Movers?
In the previous section, we revealed several stylized likelihood that a job seeker will look beyond their home
facts about Americans searching for jobs beyond their metro for a job.
metro on Glassdoor. In this section, we take a closer look
at the data and estimate which job or applicant factors Table 7 shows the summary statistics we used for our
statistically predict whether a job seeker will be willing regression model. This is a smaller subset of the overall
to move metros for a job — whether it’s for better pay, sample because only whole records, with data on each
a higher -rated company on Glassdoor, or other factors factor, were used. In total, we used 35,999 online job
like education, age and gender of candidates. applications started on Glassdoor during the week of
January 8, 2018. Metro movers made up 36 percent of
Below we estimate a “linear probability model” to applicants, applying to jobs with a mean base salary of
identify which factors best predict whether candidates $87,907 per year. The average company rating was 3.7
will apply to jobs outside their metro, all else equal. out of 5 stars. Men were 59 percent of applicants, while
This shows how higher pay, better company culture and 41 percent were women. The average age was 33 years.
job candidate characteristics separately influence the
Table 7. Summary Statistics for the Data (Regression Model)
Statistic Observations Mean St. Dev. Min Max
Metro Mover (Mover = 1) 35,999 0.36 0.48 0 1
Job Salary 35,999 $87,907 $38,234 $14,528 $295,757
Glassdoor Rating 35,999 3.7 0.6 1 5
Gender (Male = 1) 35,999 0.59 0.49 0 1
Age 35,999 33.0 9.7 19 65
High School 35,999 0.06 0.24 0 1
Associate's Degree 35,999 0.01 0.12 0 1
Bachelor's Degree 35,999 0.6 0.49 0 1
Master's Degree 35,999 0.25 0.43 0 1
Ph.D. 35,999 0.00 0.06 0 1
Professional Degree
35,999 0.02 0.12 0 1
(JD, MD, MBA)
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (Glassdoor.com/research)
22METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Using the data in Table 7, we estimated the following linear probability model via ordinary least squares (OLS),
Prob(Moverij = 1) =ß0+ ß1Salaryij+ß2Cultureij+ß3Controlsij+αi+γj+εij
where P(Mover) is a binary indicator equal to 1 for metro movers applying to job title i from metro j, and 0 otherwise;
Salary is the estimated base pay for the job opening; Culture is the employer’s overall Glassdoor 1-5 star rating;
Controls include age, education and gender of the job applicant; and α and γ are job title and metro fixed effects,
respectively. ε is the usual mean-zero error term for all other unobserved factors.
Our regression results are shown in Table 8. It shows the predicted impact each factor has on the probability that a
job seeker is a metro mover, with the corresponding standard errors in parentheses. In Column 1, we show estimates
that don’t control for any differences among job titles or metros. In Column 2, we control for differences in job titles.
Column 3 controls for both metro location and applicants’ job titles.
Here’s a summary of our key findings:
• Salary drives candidates to move. But the effect • Younger workers are more likely to be metro movers.
of higher pay is small. Our estimates show an extra On average, the older a worker, the less likely they’re
$10,000 higher base salary predicts applicants are willing to move for a job. In fact, each one higher
about a half percentage point (0.41 percentage point) age group (which corresponds to roughly ten years)
more likely to be a metro mover for a job. That’s predicts candidates will be 7 percentage points less
statistically significant, but a small effect overall. likely to be a metro mover. For employers who need
to hire experienced candidates from other areas,
• But better company culture is more attractive to recruiters should plan to actively recruit these
movers. Applicants are 2.5 percentage points more candidates — and be prepared to compensate more
likely to move for a job at a company that has a 1-star senior movers with either premium offers or have
higher overall Glassdoor rating. That’s a statistically excellent workplace culture.
significant impact and is roughly six times larger than
the impact of offering a $10,000 higher salary. • Men are more likely to move metros, even after
controlling for job titles, education and age. All else
• The more educated, the more likely to move. equal, we found men in our sample were 3.3 percent-
Workers with a master’s degree are about 4.9 age points more likely to apply to jobs in another
percentage points more likely they’ll be willing to metro than women. That suggests employers look-
move for a job. Those with a 2-year associate’s ing to attract metro movers should plan to make
degree are least likely to move metros for a job and conscious outreach efforts to women — particularly
are 7.4 percentage points less likely to move metros. in tech and engineering roles that attract the most
metro movers — as women are statistically less likely
to appear in employer applicant pools otherwise.
23METRO MOVERS: WHERE ARE AMERICANS MOVING FOR JOBS, AND IS IT WORTH IT? Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D.
Table 8: Regression of Metro Movers on Salary, Company Culture and Controls
Model (1) Model (2) Model (3) Job Title and
Variable (Impact on Probability of Being a Metro Mover)
No Controls Job Title Controls Metro Controls
Median Salary of Job (x $10,000) 0.011*** -0.002 0.004***
(0.00) (0.00) (0.00)
Glassdoor Company Rating 0.027*** 0.016*** 0.025***
(0.01) (0.01) (0.01)
Gender (Male = 1) 0.076*** 0.030*** 0.033***
(0.01) (0.01) (0.01)
Age Group -0.106*** -0.066*** -0.070***
(0.00) (0.00) (0.00)
Associate’s Degree -0.025 -0.044** -0.074***
(0.02) (0.02) (0.02)
Bachelor’s Degree 0.018* -0.005 -0.013
(0.01) (0.01) (0.01)
Master's Degree 0.126*** 0.067*** 0.049***
(0.01) (0.01) (0.01)
Ph.D. 0.071* -0.02 -0.026
(0.04) (0.05) (0.05)
Professional Degree (JD, MD, MBA) -0.03 -0.01 -0.02
(0.02) (0.02) (0.02)
Constant 0.330*** 0.681*** 0.644***
(0.02) (0.1) (0.1)
Controls:
Job Title Controls X X
Metro Location Controls X
Observations 35,999 35,999 35,999
Adjusted R2 0.08 0.15 0.19
Note: Regression of a 0/1 dummy indicator for the presence of being a metro mover on various characteristics of jobs, candidates and employers.
Heteroskedasticity robust standard errors are shown in parentheses.
Source: Glassdoor Economic Research (glassdoor.com/research/)
24IV. Conclusion
In this study, we examined a large sample of online job culture matter. However, good company culture matters
applications from Glassdoor to help better understand much more to applicants than pay — an employer having
the types of candidates who are most willing to relocate a 1-star higher overall rating on Glassdoor can expect
for jobs and why. What can employers trying to attract to attract a metro mover at about six times the rate of
talent from across the U.S. learn from our findings? employers paying a $10,000 higher salary, based on our
estimates. As we’ve shown in past research, pay matters
First, most job candidates prefer to stay close to home. for talent attraction, but it’s statistically often a less
So candidate pools for most jobs will typically be important factor than having a strong employer brand.8
comprised of local applicants. For employers choosing
locations for new offices and facilities, it’s important to Fourth, women and more experienced workers are less
look beyond monetary factors like taxes and real estate likely to apply to jobs outside their home metro, even
costs. Employers should consider the local labor market after controlling for factors like education, pay and job
and whether it contains the skills and education they’ll titles. For employers looking to hire specialized tech and
need to hire, because most job applications will be engineering jobs that attract the most metro movers, this
coming from the nearby labor force. suggests employers will face less diverse applicant pools
on average unless they specifically recruit women and
Second, some jobs are better able to attract talent from more experienced candidates. This is an often overlooked
outside metros than others. Applicants for tech and cause of applicant pools that lack diversity — something
engineering roles on Glassdoor are most willing to employers can overcome by targeting outreach efforts at
relocate for jobs. However, applicants for many low- these under-represented groups when hiring nationally
er-skilled roles in retail, food services and some blue- for specialized roles.
collar jobs are unlikely to apply to jobs outside their
home metro — these are jobs employers will have to America’s labor market is more dynamic than ever, with
make a special effort for if they wish to recruit talent applicants increasingly researching and comparing jobs
from more distant metro areas. online during their search process. This study illustrates
which candidates are most likely to move for jobs in
Third, when it comes to enticing applicants to relocate, America today — and what employers can do to attract
we find strong evidence that both pay and company these mobile applicants in 2018.
100 Shoreline Hwy, Mill Valley, CA 94941 glassdoor.com/research | Email: economics@glassdoor.com
8. See for example, “What Matters More to Your Workforce than Money,” (January 2017) by Andrew Chamberlain. Harvard Business Review.
Available at https://hbr.org/2017/01/what-matters-more-to-your-workforce-than-money.
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