San Francisco, New York City and San Jose, California are the biggest draws for U.S. job seekers looking to relocate to a new city, according to a new study.

An average of 28.5 percent of job applicants are applying for opportunities outside of their metropolitan area, according to the report by Glassdoor.com, which evaluated more than 668,000 job applications in a typical week.

The study identified cities that were most likely to attract people from outside of the immediate metropolitan area – putting San Francisco in the top spot, attracting 12.4 percent of people applying for jobs outside of their hometown.

San Francisco topped the list of destination cities for job seekers willing to relocate. More than 12 percent of applications in the city were from people willing to relocate. The top source of job seekers trying to move to San Francisco came from San Jose

Top Destinations for Job Movers Destination City San Francisco New York City San Jose Los Angeles Washington, DC Boston Chicago Seattle Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Austin Percentage of Movers 12.4% 8.4% 6.9% 6.8% 4.3% 3.7% 3.2% 3.1% 2.8% 2.3% Top Source of Movers San Jose Washington, DC San Francisco Riverside, CA Baltimore New York City New York City Los Angeles Houston Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Source: Glassdoor.com Advertisement

'Money matters, but company culture seems to matter a lot more, which may surprise people,' said Glassdoor chief economist Andrew Chamberlain. 'The effect of better company culture was about six times more than paying someone $10,000 more per year.'

The study found that an extra $10,000 in base salary only makes candidates about half a percentage point likelier to be willing to move for a new job, while having a one-star higher overall rating on Glassdoor will make a candidate 2.5 percentage points more likely to move to a new city for a job.

'Those who are willing to move metros for jobs are will be more competitive nationally in the job market,' he said. 'If you are mobile, you open yourself up to job offers from every city if you're willing to move, whereas those who aren't willing to move limit themselves to employers who are only nearby.'

San Jose, California was an outlier in the study: It attracted a large percentage of out-of-town job applicants, and was home to many people seeking to relocate. The top source of job seekers trying to move to San Jose came from San Francisco

'The important things that people care about most are three factors,' Chamberlain said. 'First, career opportunities at the company. People want to feel like they have room to grow. The second thing is the quality of senior leadership, so if you have bad managers and an unfavourable CEO that's a bad thing. The third thing is the values of the association. Is the company just a business or do they try to have a larger social mission? For example, Facebook talks about connecting communities around the world. Not just selling ads.'

The cities where people are leaving typically are in areas near a larger metropolitan region that tends to act as a 'magnet,' drawing workers away, Chamberlain said. For example, Providence - which was ranked at the top of cities with workers fleeing - is near Boston, which has a ton of major employers, frequently attracting workers away from Rhode Island.

Cities with fleeing job seekers Providence San Jose Riverside, CA Baltimore Sacramento Columbus, Ohio Pittsburgh Charlotte Cincinnati Cleveland Advertisement

'That same pattern of a small area being near a big dynamic fast growing hub - that's a theme you see for a lot of these cities,' Chamberlain said.

The same was true for cities like Riverside, California, Baltimore and Sacramento, all of which landed on the list of cities with workers applying at high rates to jobs outside of their own metropolitan area.

San Jose was the one 'outlier,' featuring high on both lists. While it tends to attract a lot of relocating workers for its major tech companies that offer positive work cultures, it's also home to a high cost of living, which tends to drive out older employees with families, Chamberlain said.

The study also found that men were more like to move to a new city for a job. Even after controlling for job titles, education and age, men were 3.3 percent more likely to apply outside of their immediate geographic area.

Younger workers are also more likely to relocate for a job – meaning employers may need to pay higher salaries or invest in a better company culture to attract more experienced candidates from outside their own metropolitan area, Chamberlain said.

Providence, Rhode Island, was the city most employees sought to flee, according to the study. The city's proximity to Boston made it vulnerable to losing its workforce, experts said

'That's important for employers to understand if they care about diversity efforts,' he said. 'If companies don't do anything to recruit those people they're going to have under-representations.'

In addition, movers were more educated, overall. Those with a master's degree were nearly 5 percent more likely to be willing to change cities for a job. Those with a two-year associate's degree were the least likely to change cities for a job.