Contents
The result?
Key Takeaways
The Top 25 Tariff Sanctuaries for Gen Z
Austin is the #1 Tariff Haven for Gen Z
Big Texan and Southern Cities Lead the Pack
Less Diverse Economies Feel Greater Impact
Austin’s Tops for Tariff Relief
San Jose’s the Way to Further a Gen Z Career
San Francisco
Bigger is (Almost Always) Better For Gen Z to Escape Tariff Impacts
Methodology
Tariff and Economic Resiliency
AI and Cyber Industry Growth Potential
Gen Z Lifestyle

Graduation season is always fraught with uncertainty about what comes next.

For Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012 (in other words, today’s 13 to 28-year-olds), that future can feel even murkier. After all, they’re starting careers in an economy where just 43% of their cohort are optimistic about their employer’s business outlook over the next 6 months. Those fears are centered around the on-again, off-again tariffs fueling consumer hesitancy, rising prices, and tighter hiring across the country.

We wanted to know where Gen Z’s newcomers to the working world could find a little predictability and get a foot on the career ladder.

So, we looked at factors related to tariffs, career growth (especially in tariff-resistant AI and cyber industries), and Gen Z lifestyle. We wanted to uncover the cities where young adults could weather a downturn best, make the most of their entry-level salaries, and even have a little fun.

The result?

Austin, TX, is the best metro for Gen Z to escape tariff impacts and start their careers strong.

Key Takeaways

  • With just 2.8% of its exports under retaliatory sanctions, Austin, TX’s winning overall score was fueled by tariff resilience and high job listings growth (3rd overall).
  • The South’s largest cities are disproportionately likely to be affordable, economically diverse landing pads for Gen Z tariff sanctuary. Among the region’s 10 most populous metros, San Antonio, TX, is the only Southern city not to make the top 25.
  • Austin, TX, takes the prize for tariff impact. While it’s only the 17th most insulated city when it comes to the export economy, Austin offers grads the #3 highest job listing growth in the country.
  • For a career with silicon staying power, head to San Jose, CA. It’s got the highest number of Fortune 500 companies in the top 100 US metros per capita (20) and #3 exposure to the red-hot AI industry.
  • To enjoy life outside of work, take your heart to San Francisco, CA. with a #2 lifestyle score (with 5.5% of the population in Gen Z), #3 median salary ($130,730), and #7 “fun score” with plenty of parks, restaurants, and entertainment.

The Top 25 Tariff Sanctuaries for Gen Z

Austin is the #1 Tariff Haven for Gen Z

When it comes to overall tariff impact, career, and lifestyle, the Austin, TX, metro area strikes the right chord for Gen Z. So, if you’re just starting a career, consider a city where construction-friendly policies have meant that rents are actually dropping.

Though the cost of living in this live music and hill country capital comes in #53 of the top 100 U.S. cities, it’s actually #7 when the median salary is adjusted for price parity, so average earners here do well compared to their peers in almost every other metro.

Austin’s weakness is in its overall 13th-place finish for opportunities in AI and cyber fields, with fewer active listings and Fortune 500 companies than other top performers (with 4 Fortune 500 headquarters and just over 5,000 active AI job listings, compared to #1 San Jose’s 20 companies and 11,900+ job listings).

Big Texan and Southern Cities Lead the Pack

Austin leads the way, but other large, Southern cities are also represented in the top 25, each balancing economic diversity and Gen Z-friendly costs of living. Take the nation’s 4th, 5th, and 7th largest metros (Dallas, TX, Houston, TX, and Atlanta, GA) — they rank 7th, 13th, and 4th in our analysis.

Large cities, in general, are also tariff winners. Even though some of these economic hubs handle the most significant volumes of exports, a smaller share of their overall economy is invested in imports and exports.

Compare that to smaller, rural areas where a tariff-vulnerable single staple crop or a trucking infrastructure buoys local fortunes.

Less Diverse Economies Feel Greater Impact

Take small(ish) #100 overall, Stockton, CA. With 7-10% of the economy in agriculture, it stands to lose big from reciprocal tariffs. In fact, the bottom 5 cities were all in California, with #98 Fresno and #99 Bakersfield also located in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley.

Ultimately, agricultural and smaller towns are less hospitable to their low-level workers, with fewer opportunities for a fallback option if one industry falls victim. Meanwhile, larger cities soften the impact of trade disruptions and might be perfect for Gen Z grads — so long as they believe that they can live comfortably on their 20-something salaries.

While there are many mega-cities that aren’t represented as top-10 Gen Z tariff-relief zones (think: Los Angeles, CA, and New York, NY), metros with large populations in the wallet-friendly South are scoring big points. Most importantly, they’re affordable for new grads.

But they’re also appealing because of their unusually high economic growth. That means that even those cities with middling economic diversity scores right now are quickly working to rectify the issue. In the future, they’ll welcome even more new workers and create even more padding to protect their residents from economic speed bumps.

Austin’s Tops for Tariff Relief

Given Stockton’s cattle-raising reputation, we were surprised to see the Texan capital, graced by its Texas Cowboy Monument, as a top destination. Wouldn’t agricultural exports make up the bulk of the economy in the Texas Hill Country, too?

This one-time saddle stop has come a long way since its days as an outpost. Most recently, it is helped out by the skyrocketing growth that’s fast diversifying its economy into a world-class tech hub. From 2022 to 2023, Austin gained 4.5% in GDP and grew at more than 5X the U.S. rate.

While Austin is #17 for tariff impact right now, it’s beginning to absorb new residents and investment in industries from semiconductors to space technology, giving young workers multiple options to safeguard themselves from economic waves.

San Jose’s the Way to Further a Gen Z Career

From Cisco to PayPal, Adobe, and eBay, San Jose is the undisputed capital of Fortune 500 companies. So, while job growth is only average, the California startup capital continues to offer unicorn career paths to new grads — in tech, unemployment is just 2.1%, while in all fields, it’s 3.9%, significantly lower than the long-term average of 6.09%.

Especially attractive for digital natives entering the workforce, San Jose’s tech sector is leading the nation in new grad hiring. So while the city’s AI industry growth ranks slightly lower, at #7 in the nation, workers in Silicon Valley have strong prospects for a job that can’t be killed by trade wars.

San Francisco

San Francisco’s foggy hills are unbeatable for high salaries and entry-level incomes, leaving new residents more cash than they might think to check out the city’s 7th-place entertainment offerings. With plenty of restaurants, cafés, sports venues, public beaches, and parks, the City by the Bay loves its residents back.

And because much of the economy is focused on services, from technology to tourism, it also makes sense that this city sidesteps much of the fallout from tariffs.

San Francisco stumbles when it comes to cost of living (scoring 0 out of 10 for rent and overall costs) — you won’t likely earn enough to attend some of the swankiest venues the city has on offer. But the city scores high for parks, entertainment, restaurants, and dating-friendliness. So grab some hiking shoes and trek the Marin Headlands, then celebrate with a cannoli in North Beach for under $8. And with a high percentage of Gen Z residents, you’ll likely find some new friends to admire the view with you.

Bigger is (Almost Always) Better For Gen Z to Escape Tariff Impacts

For Gen Z grads entering the workforce, the economy is volatile. With tariffs driving up costs and stoking uncertainty, location matters more than ever.

Our data shows that large, economically diverse cities in the South are best positioned to help young workers ride out trade headwinds. They offer tariff resilience, but also job growth, lifestyle perks, and an entry-level cost of living that helps salaries go further.

So, if you’re graduating into uncertainty, don’t just follow the job. Instead, use this list to choose a city that won’t just hire you, but will help secure your future.

Methodology

We scored the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas by population in three categories:

Tariff and Economic Resiliency

AI and Cyber Industry Growth Potential

Gen Z Lifestyle

From our initial datasets, we normalized scores from 0 to 1, creating scaled rankings that account for differences in population and size. For final scores, we weighted composite scores in each category, combining broadband, taxes, remote worker prevalence, salary, and electricity price, and arriving at a final overall score.