Best places for a new grad PA to get a job? Looking for information on job saturation areas...

[lizaPA]

I'll be graduating in 2025 and my husband and I will be relocating based on where he gets into optometry school. He's a strong applicant and I think we will have a wide range of options. Our main deciding factor is choosing a place where I am most likely to find a good job. I am currently in the midwest, and it is very saturated here and many new grad PAs are struggling to find jobs. Unfortunately, my husband will have to commit to a school before I even start applying for jobs, so we need to choose wisely.

Does anyone know how I can find this information? I used the AAPA job search just to see and it was pretty abysmal.. not many job openings in many of the cities we are considering and of course all of them want multiple years of experience.

Here is a list of the cities we are considering, if anyone has any information or personal experience and would like to share I would greatly appreciate it:

Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Bloomington, Indiana, Big Rapids, Michigan, Houston, Texas, Berkeley (San Fransisco), California, Anaheim, California, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, Birmingham, Alabama, Glendale, Arizona.

[UGoLong]

I live in Columbus and work part-time for a local PA program. There are lots of PAs here and many of our grads find jobs in the area. When I round in hospitals, it can be like an alumni reunion for me.

A word from my late Mother who, when my Father was concerned that our up-for-sale house wasn't going to sell, said: "We're not in a volume business; we only need one person to buy this house." Which is, of course, what eventually happened.

In the end, you only need one PA job. Saturated areas have lots of PAs working in it and they come and go so there are generally openings. You just have to find one that you would like.

Good luck!