With hard work and dedication, real estate offers agents the chance to be your own boss and control the direction of your career, but there are many factors that contribute to this dream. It demands hearty commitment, working weekends and evenings, a consistent positive attitude and the financial stability to weather dry spells. 

But one of the most important things to consider is an external factor: location. Every local housing market is different, home to a wide array of industries, job opportunities and housing stock.

What metros offer agents the best opportunities? With an interest in the where the best markets lie, analysts at WalletHub recently compared 150 of the largest U.S. cities across 14 key markers. Factors such as job opportunity and competition and real estate market health were the two overarching elements, taking into consideration others such as sales per agent, annual median wage for real-estate agents, real-estate employment growth, unemployment rates, home turnover rates, average ratio of home sale price to home list price, percentage of housing flips and more.

Boston is No. 4 on the list; Honolulu, HI came in first place, Seattle, WA second and Denver, CO in third in overall ranking. Within the individual categories mentioned above, Boston ranked fourth for job opportunity and competition, and 23rd in real estate market health.

Visit WalletHub’s site for information on how other cities ranked.