Jobs

The Best City for Outdoor Jobs

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: September 3, 2021 9:30 am

Last Updated: September 3, 2021 10:00 am

When people think of work in America, likely they think of jobs in offices, or, now, jobs where people work from home. America’s largest companies include Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Alphabet and Berkshire Hathaway. Few of the people who work at these corporations spend time outside, unless it is a lunchtime walk for exercise. However, millions of people work outdoors in construction, farming and making deliveries. Some places are better than others when it comes to these jobs, and at least one study looks at them by city.

Obviously, location and climate have a large impact on the desirability of outdoor jobs. 24/7 Tempo has picked the best city for outdoor jobs using a ranking formulated by LawnStarter, a lawn-care startup that frequently researches city and state amenities. LawnStarter compared the 200 most populous cities across 26 metrics, including air quality, average temperature, temperature extremes, precipitation, outdoor job opportunities, cost of living, transit access and rate of work-related injuries.

Metropolitan areas in Arizona, Texas and Washington dominated the list. Safety was one component we looked at. High wages for people who work outdoors was another. Public transportation was taken into account as well.

Cities in the sweltering Deep South and the far north tended to have lower scores due to their extreme temperatures, while many cities in California scored low in the air quality and natural hazards metrics.

Frisco, Texas, was the best city to work outdoors. Here are the specifics:

• Outdoor job opportunities per 100,000 residents: 1297.0 (ninth highest)
• Work-related severe injuries per 100,000 workers: 25.5
• Average yearly total of very hot days: 103
• Average yearly total of very cold days: 31

Click here to read to see all the best cities for outdoor jobs.