Salary is an important factor for many college students graduating into today's uncertain economy. But many are also prioritizing something without a price tag: a job that keeps them close to home.
Class of 2025 graduates say the No. 1 factor that influences them to apply for a job is that it's in their desired location, according to a new report from Handshake, the career site for college students and recent grads.
And as far as location goes, rising grads are most likely to prioritize a job that's close to their family, followed by their hometown, based on the survey of over 2,800 graduating seniors in February.
More than half of grads are applying to jobs within 250 miles of their school, and less than 10% are preparing for a cross-country move, designated as 2,000 miles away or more.
Meanwhile, landing a role with a high starting salary ranked as the No. 4 most important factor in their job search.
New grads indicated the most important factors in finding a new job after college include:
- Desired location: 73%
- Job stability: 70%
- Positive employer reputation: 67%
- A high starting salary: 63%
- Schedule flexibility: 52%
Prioritizing location, especially one near family, rather than salary explains Hali Jama's post-college plans "bar for bar," she tells CNBC Make It. The 22-year-old will graduate from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in May and move to Chicago for an analyst job.
Though she had promising and higher paying job opportunities in New York City, she decided to go with with an offer in Chicago because she'd visited often throughout college, and it's a train ride away from her closest family in Minnesota.
"I could have chosen New York and made bank," Jama says, "but then I had to think about, 'Would I even like New York? And is this really somewhere that I see myself? And is the rent worth that salary?'"
Ultimately, location and being near relatives were "100% way more important to me than salary," she says.
Given what today's college grads experienced during the global pandemic, it makes sense they're taking their values into account and "living the lives that they want out the gate" into early adulthood, says Christine Cruzvergara, Handshake's chief education officer. "And part of that work-life equation is making sure that they're able to have community and they're able to have family and friends that are around them."
New grads might also be more willing to trade dreams of living in a big (read: pricey) city for somewhere more affordable closer to home, where they can more comfortably cover rent, basic needs, retirement savings and student loans, Cruzvergara says.
Plus, "there's some comfort in knowing that you're going to a location where you're gonna know other people," she adds.
Brandon Frederick, 21, says sticking close to home and where he went to school is his best bet for making the most of his gap year. He'll graduate soon from Michigan State University with a double major in political theory and international relations.
He plans to stay near East Lansing, Mich., to secure an internship with a local law firm. His main goals: Earn money to shore up his savings, start paying off as much of his student loans as possible, and gain experience to see if going to law school is the best path for him.
Looking ahead, Frederick says choosing an in-state law school would make the most financial sense, though he's hopeful he'll be able to secure scholarships or tuition assistance to help make a decision.
New grads are willing to shift their job prospects
Like Frederick, other class of 2025 grads are showing a growing interest in a career in law and politics. Rising grads are also pursuing more roles in real estate and construction.
But one recent trend seems to be coming to a halt. In the last few years, students were trading their high-paying tech job dreams and instead applying to more job-secure government roles. However, given the Trump administration's efforts to slash the size of the federal workforce, many students are rethinking their careers in public-service.
This year, rising grads were applying to fewer jobs across both tech and government, which includes federal, state and local roles, according to Handshake data.
The 2025 graduating class, in particular, started college in a pandemic-era environment and is acutely familiar with being flexible, Cruzvergara says.
"They're not precious about needing to stick with exactly what they might have thought they were going to go into," she says, and are instead considering, "Where are there opportunities? I will go where there are opportunities."
One thing is for sure: Applying to jobs is getting more competitive. The average class of 2025 grad had applied to 16.5 jobs by February, up from the 13.6 jobs the average 2024 grad had applied to at the same time last year.
Meanwhile the average job opening on Handshake has received 26 applications in 2025, up from the 20 applications per open role in 2024.
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