The number of jobs available online for accountants in the past 90 days rose to 184,000 jobs — a 17 percent increase compared to the same 90-day period in 2012, according to Wanted Analytics, a firm that tracks online job ads.

New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Boston had the most demand for accountants during the past 90 days.

Employers in the New York metro placed 15,000 accountant online job ads, the most of any U.S. area. Chicago saw the largest year-over-year increase: Just over 8,600 ads were posted online during the past 90 days for jobs located in this area, representing 18 percent growth.

Wanted Analytics’ Hiring Scale, which measures conditions in local job markets by comparing hiring demand and labor supply, gave accounting positions a score of 48 on average across the United States, showing that they are moderately hard-to-fill jobs. The locations likely to experience the most difficulties with hiring accountants or auditors are Manchester N.H., Niles-Benton Harbor, Mich., Dubuque, Iowa, and Bellingham, Wash. The average posting period for an accountant or auditor job ad in these four cities is more than six weeks.