Beaufort County is a great place for lawyers.

That’s the summation of a report by a data-research firm, GoodCall, based out of Charlotte. According to a GoodCall press release, Washington was ranked the No. 1 small city in the U.S. for lawyers and recent law-school graduates to launch their careers.

“After years of low employment rates for recent law graduates, the job market is finally starting to improve,” said Eppie Vojt, founder of GoodCall. “We wanted to find areas where lawyers and recent law grads can find the best quality of life — outside of the big cities that typically attract the best job candidates.”

So GoodCall started looking at 539 smaller cities, all with populations under 100,000. However, in Washington’s case, more than population in the city proper was used: according to analysts, the population data represents the micro-statistical area of Washington, which essentially equates to the population of Beaufort County, said Carrie Wiley, GoodCall public relations manager.

In the descending order, the other towns in the top 10 list include Carlsbad-Artesia, N.M., Thomaston, Ga., Roswell, N.M., Laconia, N.H., Shelby, N.C., Barre, Vt., Canton, Ill., Fairbanks, Alaska, and Cheyenne, Wyo. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau and job-search website Indeed.com.

“Our methodology took into account average lawyer salaries, law job density and law job availability, weighted with the competition in the local market,” Vojt said in a press release.

But that wasn’t all that was taken into consideration: local housing affordability and the number of area amenities, including arts, entertainment and recreation venues were also part of the process. According to the report, the average salary for area lawyers is $130,920. At the same time, residents spend only an average 7.91 percent of income on housing.

According to Seth Edwards, District Attorney for District 2, encompassing Beaufort, Hyde, Martin, Tyrrell and Washington Counties, “The local bar association has always been very congenial with one another, offering to help new lawyers that come to town. Of course, we all have to make a living, but I have not perceived the bar as a dog-eat-dog mentality. There is mutual respect among the judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers. And the Pamlico River doesn’t hurt!”

The full report can be found at www.goodcall.com/data-center/the-best-small-cities-for-law-school-graduates/