Explore data
Public salary data, translated into real-world buying power

Compare salary and cost of living by U.S. city.

See what your occupation pays across metro areas, then place that paycheck beside local prices, housing and take-home context before you move or accept an offer.

Compare my profession See how the data is built
810 occupations 57 featured cities 5 named public sources
Built from named datasets, not anonymous salary submissions
BLS OEWS BEA Regional Prices Census ACS FBI Crime Data Zillow Research
181
Featured city profiles
17
State markets in the current home index
811
Occupation hubs
Start with your decision

One salary number cannot answer every relocation question

WhereToEarn separates the questions people usually mix together: what the job pays, how expensive the location is, and how much purchasing power remains.

01

What does my occupation pay?

Open a national profession hub or narrow the salary comparison to a state market.

Search occupations 02

Where will my salary stretch further?

Use cost-of-living, housing and income signals to evaluate the location behind the paycheck.

Browse state guides 03

Is the larger offer actually better?

Compare nominal pay with local prices instead of assuming the biggest gross salary wins.

Understand buying power
Cost of living by state

Explore the U.S. markets currently connected to salary data

State hubs aggregate city-level context and create a faster route from broad relocation research to occupation-specific salary pages.

15 state guides
CACaliforniaSalary, prices & housing NYNew YorkSalary, prices & housing PAPennsylvaniaSalary, prices & housing NJNew JerseySalary, prices & housing TXTexasSalary, prices & housing FLFloridaSalary, prices & housing WAWashingtonSalary, prices & housing ILIllinoisSalary, prices & housing GAGeorgiaSalary, prices & housing DCWashington, D.C.Salary, prices & housing
Transparent by design

A salary comparison is only useful when the source and geography are clear

WhereToEarn connects occupation-level wage estimates to regional prices and city context. It also labels the reference year and confidence information on core result pages instead of blending datasets invisibly.

The core idea

The larger paycheck is not always the stronger offer.

Nominal salary answers “what is the gross pay?” Purchasing power asks “what can that pay reasonably support here?” The second question requires local price context, especially housing.

  • Compare the same occupation across metros
  • Read price indexes around a U.S. baseline of 100
  • Check source year and estimate confidence
Headline salaryLocal purchasing-power context
Higher-cost metro$120,000larger headline number
Lower-cost metro$95,000potentially stronger local value

Illustrative only. Actual results depend on occupation, location, taxes and household circumstances.

Data provenance

Named sources with different jobs

No single dataset can explain salary, affordability and local conditions. Each source contributes a specific layer, and each layer follows its own release cycle.

Current core wage layerMay 2025 OEWSPublished by BLS in 2026
Current regional price layer2024 RPPPublished by BEA in 2026
BLSOccupational pay

Mean wages, employment and estimate reliability by occupation and geographic area.

Primary salary source BEARegional prices

Price levels that make cost differences across states and metro areas comparable.

Cost-of-living layer CensusIncome & housing

Annual social, economic, housing and demographic context for local areas.

Community context FBISafety signals

Directional crime context where compatible geographic coverage is available.

Context, not a verdict ZillowHousing market

Home-value context used to show how strongly housing can change relocation math.

Housing layer
01

Source-level transparency

Core pages expose source names, reference years and geographic keys rather than presenting a blended score with no provenance.

02

Like-for-like comparisons

Salary comparisons keep the occupation definition consistent and explain when a metro spans more than one city or state.

03

Visible limitations

Estimates are directional decision support, not individualized financial, tax, housing or safety advice.

04

Release-aware updates

Datasets are refreshed on their own publication schedules, so freshness is shown by source rather than one misleading site-wide date.

Common questions

Questions people ask before comparing cities and salaries

Clear answers about salary by city, cost-of-living indexes, comfortable-income estimates, public wage data and take-home pay.

Every core result page identifies its source and reference year.
What is the average salary in the US?

There is no single useful average for every decision. Pay varies materially by occupation and metro area, so WhereToEarn compares occupation-level mean wages by location instead of relying only on a blended national figure.

How do I compare salary and cost of living between cities?

Compare the same occupation across locations, then read the local cost-of-living index, housing context and available take-home estimate. A higher nominal salary can still provide less local purchasing power in a more expensive city.

What salary do I need to live comfortably in a city?

The answer depends on household size, taxes, housing and spending choices. WhereToEarn provides occupation pay and local price context so users can evaluate affordability without presenting a generic comfortable-salary figure as personal financial advice.

Where does WhereToEarn salary data come from?

Core occupational wage figures use the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. Regional price context uses Bureau of Economic Analysis data, with Census, FBI and Zillow sources used where available for local context.

Does WhereToEarn show take-home pay?

Take-home estimates are available progressively on eligible city pages and depend on federal, state and FICA assumptions. They are comparison estimates, not tax advice.