Many cities are keen to attract technology firms and this is followed closely behind by ‘creative talent’. A creative career is a profession where a person sets out to use their talents to express themselves creatively and develop an original product or service. Such industries add a richness to our cultures.
The creative industries include: Music, performing arts, like acting, and visual arts, like painting. Crafts, such as weaving, furniture-making and jewellery-making. Film, TV, animation, visual effects, video, radio and photography.
Some cities attempt to attract more creatives than others and some stand higher in terms of successful companies and with the types of services they deliver. Where are these hotbeds in the U.S.?
Data experts at Crucial.com ranked locations after gathering data on the number of people employed in each type of creative role and the number of live vacancies. Creative roles include the following: SFX artists, Graphic Designers, Producers, Directors, Music directors, Composers, Musicians, Singers, Writers, Photographers, Video Games Developers and Video Editors.
The top twenty cities in the U.S. based on these criteria were found to be:
Overall Rank | City | State | Score |
1 | Washington – Arlington – Alexandria | DC | 100 |
2 | Atlanta | GA | 95.86 |
3 | Miami – Fort Lauderdale | FL | 94.89 |
4 | New York City – Newark – Jersey City | NY | 94.55 |
5 | San Francisco – Oakland – Hayward | CA | 93.44 |
6 | Los Angeles – Long Beach – Anaheim | CA | 92.96 |
7 | Chicago – Naperville | IL | 92.55 |
8 | Boston | MA | 92.13 |
9 | Seattle – Tacoma – Bellevue | WA | 88.41 |
10 | Orlando | FL | 85.37 |
11 | Minneapolis – St. Paul | MN | 85.09 |
12 | Detroit | MI | 81.44 |
13 | Dallas – Fort Worth – Arlington | TX | 80.47 |
14 | St. Louis | MO | 79.57 |
15 | Philadelphia | PA | 79.3 |
16 | Baltimore | MD | 78.47 |
17 | Austin | TX | 77.23 |
18 | Tampa – St. Petersburg | FL | 75.78 |
19 | Salt Lake City | UT | 75.71 |
20 | Cincinnati | OH | 75.22 |
Based on the above table, Washington, D.C. — plus Arlington and Alexandria, Va. — was found to have the best overall balance of “current creative workers” and “available creative jobs.”
In second place, Atlanta came out on top for the number of creative workers as a proportion of the overall working population – 11,660 out of 522,328. Third placed Miami, and to a similar extent Fort Lauderdale, Fla., appear as a good choice for creatives looking to be part of the next big thing.
In fourth place, The New York area — especially New York City, Newark and Jersey City, N.J. — boasts the most job opportunities for fashion, architecture, advertising and stock photography.
Are these the true creative hubs? Evidence is with the output…