Best Cities for Digital Marketers

If you live in a city that you don’t want to leave or have always dreamed of moving to a particular city, digital marketing is a good career to pursue. It’s very portable with good salaries reported across the country. Consider factors like number of jobs, salary, cost of living, local tech culture, and quality of life.

What is a Digital Marketer?

Over half the world’s population uses the internet, and businesses have noticed. Most companies and organizations have a website and use digital marketing to reach potential customers or clients. Digital Marketers use social media platforms, website content, email campaigns, paid and unpaid advertising, and video marketing to promote goods and services to a target audience.

Digital Marketers use data analytics to identify an audience likely to be interested in the products or services they sell. Next, they create a detailed description of that audience, focusing on the pain points and problems the product will solve. Then, Digital Marketers set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the marketing campaign's performance. Common KPIs are sales goals or increasing traffic to a website.

After setting goals and determining strategy, Digital Marketers create high-quality content to engage the audience and place it near the top of search engine pages. After posting the content on social media, Digital Marketers use tools like Google Analytics, SEMRush, or Moz to analyze its performance. Digital Marketers also interact with followers on social media in the company’s brand voice. 

Some Digital Marketers work for agencies and take care of many accounts, while others work for one company. Some are employed in-house, while others work remotely. Digital Marketers in agencies and larger companies often work as part of a team. They may only be responsible for one part of the workload, such as content marketing, SEO, or data analytics. Many people start their careers as freelance Digital Marketers working at home by themselves or in small startups.

Read more about what a Digital Marketer does.

What Makes a City Good for Digital Marketers?

What makes a city good for Digital Marketers will vary with personal preference, but there are some leading factors. Salaries are higher in some cities than in others, but you also need to balance this with the cost of living in that area. Maybe you have a favorite city and want to know if you can find a digital marketing job if you move there. Or maybe you are looking for a job you can work remotely that allows you to travel.

One factor that makes a city good for Digital Marketers is a strong job market. If you are thinking of moving to an area, you want to be sure that there will be jobs to choose from. You also want to find a job that pays well, and finding an area with a strong digital marketing culture might be important, too. The cost of living factors into the decision, too. New York, Seattle, and San Francisco have high costs of living and a shortage of reasonably priced housing. You may want to look into somewhere less costly like Charlotte, NC or Atlanta, GA.

Many Job Opportunities

When you are looking for a city to move to where you can develop a career as a Digital Marketer, take a look at how many digital marketing jobs are advertised. Another thing to consider is the types of industries in the area and whether these companies hire Digital Marketers. Industries that rely most on digital marketing are:

• IT 
• Healthcare
• ecommerce
• Entertainment
• Education
• Food
• Real estate
• Law firms
• Fitness and nutrition
• Retail

High Salaries

The average base salary for Digital Marketers in the United States is $58,000 per year. Pay rates differ across the country and also with the level of experience. You may want to balance salary amount with other factors like cost of living or quality of life in a particular area.

Cost of Living

Of course, the cost of living is different across the country, with cities like New York and Los Angeles topping the list. If it is important to you to live in a certain city, keep in mind that the cost of living there will affect your housing opportunities, purchasing power, or entertainment. 

Strong Digital Marketer Community

Some cities are more supportive of Digital Marketers than others. Look for a place that has active professional groups that give you the opportunity to meet colleagues and network. These groups often have job boards to also help you get a job.

Quality of Life

Another factor to consider when deciding where to settle and work as a Digital Marketer is the quality of life in the area. This is a personal decision based on what you like to do when you aren’t working. If you love to hike or kayak, look for a city where nature is easy to get to. If you like theater, music, or trying new restaurants, look for cities that are known for their nightlife.

Top Cities for Digital Marketers

Here are the top cities for Digital Marketers in the U.S.

New York, NY

New York City tops the list in terms of the number of digital marketing jobs available and salary figures. The annual base salary in New York is $65,000. This might be a challenge because of the city’s high cost of living, but the Big Apple offers cultural experiences that are not available anywhere else.

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco is famously tech-friendly with breathtaking scenery. The job market is good and salaries are high at an average $71,500. The area offers plenty of fresh seafood, and a culturally diverse environment. It is also a tech-friendly area with a supportive digital marketing culture. The downside is a high cost of living with a serious housing shortage.

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles is another good city for Digital Marketers, especially in terms of quality of life. Thanks to warm, sunny weather, there is always something to do, indoors or out, year-round. If you want to work in the entertainment industry, LA is your city. Unfortunately, the salary of $67,500 doesn’t keep up with the high cost of living.

Boston, MA

If history and culture are important to you, Boston is your town. Summers are pleasant and the autumn is spectacular, but if you move to Boston, you’d better like snow. The cost of living is pretty high, but the annual average base salary of $63,000 should cover your costs.

Seattle, WA

Seattle has a high cost of living and a good salary figure of $73,000. It also has amazing scenery, great hiking, and a tech-friendly atmosphere. Seattle is a special place with cultural diversity and great quality of life.

Chicago, IL

The Digital Marketer salary in Chicago is around $64,000 and it comes in at number 14 among North American cities in terms of cost of living. Many people love the jazz scene, restaurants, and life on the lake, but again, you need to consider winter when you think about moving here.

Washington, DC/Baltimore

Washington, D.C. is the political hub of the country with many historic buildings, museums, great restaurants, and cultural icons. It also offers many public relations and brand marketing jobs. Salaries are a bit low at an average $54,000 a year with a high cost of living. Nearby Baltimore is a coastal city with a historic harbor and a reputation for steamed crabs, and, although it offers a significantly lower cost of living with an average salary of $59,000.

Denver, CO

If you love mountains, Denver should be your choice. With a reasonable cost of living and a salary average of $61,000, Denver offers great digital marketing work opportunities and amazing recreation.

Charlotte, NC

If you prefer the south, Charlotte, NC is a good choice. It’s an easy drive to the beach or the mountains, and there is plenty of urban culture. The cost of living is low, and the salary average is $59,000 a year.

Remote and Freelance Work

If you don’t want to move to work as a Digital Marketer, remote work and freelancing might be for you. Hybrid and remote jobs have exploded in popularity in the last few years, making it possible to work from almost anywhere. Job sites like Indeed, Glassdoor, and others list many remote and freelance jobs. 

How to Find a Digital Marketer Job

If you want to change careers and become a Digital Marketer, a good way to start 

is to create a website and open some social media accounts. You can learn a lot on your own by watching tutorials, reading blogs, and listening to podcasts. Your website is a good place to practice digital marketing skills and test different techniques. A website of your own allows you to work on other skills and is also an excellent place to put your portfolio.

Social media is another way to learn about digital marketing. Open an Instagram account and post some content. See how people respond, both positively and negatively. If you want to learn to make videos, open a YouTube or TikTok account. Many companies prefer to hire influencers who have made a name for themselves.

Many people find jobs listed on employment websites like Indeed and Glassdoor or social media platforms like LinkedIn. Others find internships through college or training programs. Networking is another successful way to find out about digital marketing jobs.

Learn the Skills to Become a Digital Marketer at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers many digital marketing courses that teach skills to help you switch to a career in digital marketing. Small class sizes and expert instructors help you learn digital marketing in in-person or live online classes. Plus, you can take a course over again for free at any time during the following year. 

Noble Desktop offers many bootcamps in digital marketing like Facebook Marketing, email marketing, Social Media Content Marketing: Blogs & Twitter, and Video Marketing: TikTok & YouTube. You can also choose the Digital Marketing Certificate or a Social Media Marketing Certificate course. Other Noble Desktop resources that can help prepare for a career in digital marketing include the digital marketing blog with valuable articles about social media marketing, SEO, and other essential tools for digital marketers.