- Most In-Demand Jobs for Bachelor’s Degree Holders – 2020 Edition
In 2018, young adults with at least a bachelor’s degree had an impressive employment rate of 86%, compared to just 72% for their counterparts with a mere high school diploma. After all, a higher level of education can mean more job prospects and the opportunity to build strong savings. Unfortunately, not all kinds of jobs… read more…
- Cities With the Best Work-Life Balance – 2020 Edition
It’s difficult to pursue your passions and manage your various commitments given the time that they require, especially if they are not directly linked to your job. In an ideal world, though, you earn enough to sock away sufficient savings to enjoy your leisure activities without logging excessive hours at the office or on a punishing commute.… read more…
- Best Cities to Work From Home – 2020 Edition
The average U.S. worker travels about 27.1 minutes to work and spends $2,600 annually on commuting costs, according to 2018 Census Bureau estimates and the Citi ThankYou Premier Commuter Index. Working from home represents an opportunity for workers to save both time and money while additionally allowing greater flexibility for working parents. In this study,… read more…
- Most Fitness-Friendly Places for 2020
As we head into the new year, many of us are taking stock of what we accomplished in the past year and considering what goals we’d like to set for the coming one. Establishing a more consistent fitness routine may be on the list for some people, though it can sometimes burn more of our… read more…
- Adoption Trends in America: Uncovering Its Prevalence and Cost – 2019 Edition
Whether you’re a birth parent or an adoptive one, having children is costly. Given the variety of expenses prospective adoptive parents face, they must consider whether they have the savings to handle the costs of the process. One of the biggest factors that determines how much it costs to adopt a child is the type of adoption. Adoption… read more…
- Where Residents Most Rely on Credit – 2019 Edition
The stress of credit card debt is often felt the most at the end of the year, since Americans tend to put more on the plastic during the holiday shopping season. In fact, data from Experian shows that credit card debt has peaked in the fourth quarter for the past eight years. While playing Santa… read more…
- Best Cities for Beer Drinkers – 2019 Edition
According to the National Beer Wholesalers Association, in 2018, approximately 82% of all beer in the U.S. was domestically produced. While that may indicate that beer is widely available across the country, not all drinkers will agree it’s worth using their savings to buy another round in every city. That’s why SmartAsset took a look at… read more…
- Cities With the Most Rent Seasonality – 2019 Edition
Like home prices, rent varies month to month in many cities. Rent is often higher in summer months than in winter ones, as more than 40% of all moves take place during the four months from May through August, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. College students returning for classes, recent graduates starting… read more…
- Where Rent Is Becoming More and Less Affordable – 2019 Edition
Rent affordability is largely dependent on income. Guidelines from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recommend that households not spend more than 30% of their monthly gross income on housing-related expenses, including rent and utilities, to comfortably afford other necessities like food and healthcare. But fluctuations in rent as a percentage of income… read more…
- Best Places to Live on a $60,000 Salary – 2019 Edition
The median household income in the U.S. was $61,937 in 2018, according to Census Bureau data. But what kind of life that income affords you depends on many factors, including your spending and saving habits as well as the cost of living in the place you call home. With that in mind, SmartAsset decided to… read more…
- Most Livable Mid-Sized Cities – 2019 Edition
Because the cost of living tends to correlate with population size, mid-sized cities are often more affordable alternatives to large cities and potentially offer better opportunities to save and invest. Your salary can go a lot further when your costs are lower, so people who use a cost-of-living calculator to compare expenses between cities may gravitate… read more…
- Best Places for Women Entrepreneurs – 2019 Edition
The number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. has increased in recent years, which could be encouraging news for other women who are still building up the resources to start new ventures. According to data from the Census Bureau’s 2016 Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs, there were more than 1.1 million women-owned businesses in the 50… read more…
- Best Cities for Budget-Friendly Dating – 2019 Edition
Whether you’re taking someone out for the first time or enjoying a well-earned night on the town with your partner of a decade, it’s important to be able to enjoy a nice date night. It is even better when you have plenty of options for where to go and know a night with your special… read more…
- States With the Strongest Unions – 2019 Edition
Unions can be effective tools for collective bargaining. They represent workers in negotiations with management to uphold workers’ rights, including fair wages. According to a 2018 report on full-time workers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nonunion workers earned just 82% of the median weekly amount that union member workers earned. Being able to… read more…
- Most Promising Jobs for Employment and Pay – 2019 Edition
Every two years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases employment projections for more than 800 detailed occupations, with its most recent projections spanning from 2018 to 2028. Solar photovoltaic installers and wind turbine service technicians top the list. The BLS projects employment growth of 63.3% and 56.9% for the occupations, respectively. Due to their… read more…
- Where Student Loan Debt Hits the Hardest – 2019 Edition
Following mortgage debt, student loan debt is the second-largest form of U.S. consumer debt, growing substantially over recent years and negatively affecting Americans’ ability to save enough. According to data from Experian, student loan debt reached an all-time high of $1.4 trillion in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 116% from 10 years… read more…
- Highest-Paying Jobs That Don’t Require a Bachelor’s Degree – 2019 Edition
About two-thirds of the jobs outlined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in 2018 do not require workers to have a bachelor’s or advanced degree. Though pay is generally correlated with education level and the majority of those jobs have average annual salaries below $50,000, some jobs that require only an associate’s degree or… read more…
- Cities With the Most Financial Stress – 2019 Edition
Bills pile up and debt accumulates, causing the pressure of financial concerns to grow. While there are certainly ways to get out ahead of these struggles – saving carefully, using a budget or making smart investments – sometimes things happen that make financial stress inevitable, even for the most careful planners. Some cities, though, are… read more…
- Best Places for Millennial Mothers – 2019 Edition
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, about 3.9 million births were registered in the U.S. in 2017, with millennial women accounting 80% of them. The average age of mothers at first birth was 26.8, and especially for those millennial mothers at the start of their careers, where they choose to start a family… read more…
- Best Minor League Baseball Towns – 2019 Edition
While Major League Baseball is what you are most likely to see on television, baseball fans in cities across the country flock to the ballpark to watch the stars of tomorrow hone their craft in Minor League Baseball. These games are less expensive and less crowded than the average Major League game, so they are… read more…
- Best Cities for Women’s Pay – 2019 Edition
The pay gap remains a very real struggle for women around the U.S. The latest number from the American Association of University Women estimates that, on average, women earn around 80% of what their male counterparts earn in the workforce. This, in turn, significantly hurts their ability to save enough to meet their financial goals.… read more…
- Cities With The Lowest Startup Costs – 2019 Edition
More and more people are getting into the business world through their own startups. Many of the companies you interact with on an everyday basis – Uber, Airbnb, even Apple – began as startups, often with just a few employees. While the stereotype may be that all startups are in either the Bay Area or… read more…
- The Fastest-Growing Jobs for Young Professionals in America – 2019 Edition
In 2014, there were almost 32 million workers in the U.S. between the ages of 25 and 34, and over five years, this number rose to more than 35 million, an increase of about 10%. Of those 35 million, about 13 million had a bachelor’s or advanced degree, or 16% more than workers who did… read more…
- States That Would Benefit the Most from Healthcare Reform
In 2017, the U.S. spent $3.50 trillion – more than $10,000 per person – on healthcare, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As a percentage of U.S. GDP, healthcare made up 17.10%. This is greater on a per capita basis and as a percentage of GDP than any other country. Though… read more…
- Best State Capitals to Live In – 2019 Edition
State capitals aren’t always the biggest cities in their state, but they’re among the most important. Not only are they central hubs for government offices and homes for notable landmarks, but they may also offer employment opportunities and other cultural features that make them attractive for longtime residents and potential newcomers alike. Some state capitals,… read more…