Seattle skyline (Photo: Angela N.)

According to Forbes’ latest list of the best cities for good jobs, Seattle is doing pretty well for itself.

Out of the 100 largest cities in the U.S., the Emerald City ranked as the 5th-best city for good jobs. Here’s what Forbes had to say about us:

Seattle’s unemployment rate is a little high, but so are the wages in this technology capital, and they’re projected to grow at a 2.6% annual clip through 2019. Boeing employment is holding steady despite teething troubles with the 787, and education continues to expand.

5-year expected annual job growth rate: 1.9%
Per capita income: $50,497
Unemployment rate: 6.5%

To arrive at the rankings, Forbes used data from the 100 largest metro areas and then broke it down by category:

  • 2011 unemployment rate: 5%.
  • Current unemployment rate: 20%.
  • Estimated 2013 employment growth: 20%.
  • 5-year estimated employment growth: 25%.
  • Current per-capita income: 15%.
  • Estimated 5-year income growth: 15%.

Forbes noted that Seattle was the fastest-growing city for good jobs outside of Texas, adding that the city is expected to add 136,000 jobs over the next five years. 

Interesting to note that Texas had five cities in the top ten, with Dallas, Houston and Austin rounding out the top 3, respectively. Earlier this month, Texas Governor Rick Perry’s went on a controversial job campaign in California where he touted Texas by slamming California. GeekWire’s John Cook wrote this piece that urged Washington governor Jay Inslee to do something similar.

Forbes’ rankings also come one day after we wrote about how Seattle placed second just behind San Francisco as the best place for women entrepreneurs.

From a bigger picture outlook, there has been lots of talk about Seattle as a startup city. It was recently ranked 4th as a global startup hub and Tableau CEO Christian Chabot just called it the promised land of startup America.

But more investment money and brand name investors in the area wouldn’t hurt, as John Cook wrote last month. And people like Ignition’s Cam Myhrvold say that the problem isn’t money, it’s the entrepreneurial talent.

Previously on GeekWire: Girl power: Seattle ranked 2nd for women entrepreneurs

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