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Popular salary searches
- Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse in San Diego, CA$39,410 a year
- Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in San Francisco, CA$54,470 a year
- Software Developers in San Francisco, CA$193,430 a year
- Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians in Detroit, MI$49,260 a year
- Tree Trimmers and Pruners in San Francisco, CA$74,180 a year
- Floral Designers in Los Angeles, CA$50,570 a year
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides salary by city392 cities
- Retail Salespersons salary by city393 cities
- Fast Food and Counter Workers salary by city393 cities
Compare two cities or states, and your job
Free tools and rankings
- Paycheck calculator by stateTake-home pay after taxes, per paycheck
- Cost of living comparisonsCity vs city and state vs state
- Salary rankingsBest cities by job, after cost of living
- Cities Where Your Salary Goes FurthestAverage pay adjusted for local prices
- Best Cities for Young ProfessionalsWhere entry-level pay goes furthest
- Highest Paying Cities in the U.S.Average salary of all jobs
Rankings at a glance
Highest-paying jobs in America
| Cardiologists | $454,940 |
|---|---|
| Radiologists | $381,530 |
| Surgeons, All Other | $373,930 |
| Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric | $373,570 |
| Anesthesiologists | $360,570 |
| Dermatologists | $323,530 |
States with the highest median salary
| Washington, D.C. | $91,540 |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $63,590 |
| Washington | $62,990 |
| Alaska | $61,000 |
| Colorado | $59,800 |
| Connecticut | $59,690 |
Where salaries go furthest: average pay adjusted for prices
| San Jose, CA | $107,976 |
|---|---|
| Rochester, MN | $88,735 |
| Boulder, CO | $87,223 |
| San Francisco, CA | $86,686 |
| Washington, DC | $84,429 |
| Boston, MA | $82,778 |
| Seattle, WA | $82,595 |
| Lexington Park, MD | $81,957 |
| Durham, NC | $81,683 |
| Trenton, NJ | $80,016 |
Map: average salary in every metro area we cover
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Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
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Average salary by state
Official statewide figures for all 52 states and territories we cover: average and median pay across every employer, with the metro areas inside each state.
- Washington, D.C.$111,010 average · median $91,540 · 1 metros
- Massachusetts$85,610 average · median $63,590 · 6 metros
- Washington$83,330 average · median $62,990 · 11 metros
- New York$82,460 average · median $59,670 · 13 metros
- California$80,690 average · median $58,240 · 25 metros
- New Jersey$78,040 average · median $58,570 · 3 metros
- Maryland$77,580 average · median $59,510 · 4 metros
- Connecticut$77,420 average · median $59,690 · 5 metros
- Colorado$77,190 average · median $59,800 · 7 metros
- Alaska$74,720 average · median $61,000 · 2 metros
- Virginia$74,040 average · median $55,690 · 9 metros
- Oregon$72,460 average · median $57,000 · 8 metros
- Rhode Island$71,900 average · median $56,780 · 1 metros
- New Hampshire$71,360 average · median $55,880 · 1 metros
- Minnesota$71,160 average · median $56,920 · 5 metros
- Illinois$71,130 average · median $51,960 · 8 metros
- Hawaii$70,270 average · median $56,320 · 2 metros
- Delaware$69,880 average · median $52,190 · 1 metros
- Vermont$69,050 average · median $56,390 · 1 metros
- Arizona$67,620 average · median $50,060 · 7 metros
- Utah$66,290 average · median $50,110 · 5 metros
- Georgia$65,920 average · median $48,170 · 14 metros
- Maine$65,780 average · median $51,430 · 3 metros
- Texas$65,750 average · median $48,620 · 26 metros
- Pennsylvania$65,730 average · median $49,690 · 16 metros
- Michigan$64,920 average · median $49,270 · 15 metros
- Florida$64,670 average · median $47,880 · 22 metros
- Ohio$64,390 average · median $49,380 · 12 metros
- North Carolina$64,290 average · median $47,970 · 15 metros
- Wisconsin$64,270 average · median $50,270 · 13 metros
- North Dakota$64,050 average · median $52,480 · 4 metros
- Nebraska$62,400 average · median $48,980 · 3 metros
- New Mexico$62,330 average · median $47,210 · 4 metros
- Missouri$62,160 average · median $47,800 · 8 metros
- Nevada$62,050 average · median $47,660 · 3 metros
- Wyoming$61,560 average · median $50,270 · 2 metros
- Idaho$61,170 average · median $47,970 · 6 metros
- Montana$60,880 average · median $48,740 · 5 metros
- Indiana$60,840 average · median $47,860 · 12 metros
- Tennessee$60,800 average · median $47,380 · 10 metros
- Kansas$60,640 average · median $48,010 · 4 metros
- Iowa$59,830 average · median $48,540 · 8 metros
- South Carolina$59,280 average · median $46,490 · 8 metros
- Kentucky$58,990 average · median $46,920 · 6 metros
- South Dakota$57,610 average · median $47,080 · 2 metros
- Alabama$57,500 average · median $45,670 · 12 metros
- Oklahoma$56,950 average · median $45,600 · 4 metros
- Louisiana$56,600 average · median $45,520 · 10 metros
- West Virginia$56,470 average · median $45,300 · 7 metros
- Arkansas$54,890 average · median $43,630 · 5 metros
- Mississippi$50,810 average · median $40,120 · 3 metros
- Puerto Rico$38,840 average · median $28,680 · 6 metros
Browse salaries by job family
- Management$145K U.S. average
- Legal$140K U.S. average
- Computer and Mathematical$120K U.S. average
- Healthcare Practitioners and Technical$109K U.S. average
- Architecture and Engineering$107K U.S. average
- Business and Financial Operations$95K U.S. average
- Life, Physical, and Social Science$95K U.S. average
- Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media$80K U.S. average
- Educational Instruction and Library$68K U.S. average
- Construction and Extraction$65K U.S. average
- Community and Social Service$63K U.S. average
- Installation, Maintenance, and Repair$63K U.S. average
- Protective Service$61K U.S. average
- Sales and Related$55K U.S. average
- Production$52K U.S. average
- Office and Administrative Support$52K U.S. average
- Transportation and Material Moving$50K U.S. average
- Farming, Fishing, and Forestry$42K U.S. average
- Personal Care and Service$41K U.S. average
- Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance$41K U.S. average
- Healthcare Support$41K U.S. average
- Food Preparation and Serving Related$37K U.S. average
Understand the numbers
Short guides to reading salary data, with real figures from the pages on this site.
Is a higher salary in another city really worth more?
Prices in the most expensive metros run 20% or more above the U.S. average. The calculator shows the salary you need to break even, your take-home pay in both places and what your job pays there.
Open the cost of living calculatorHow WhereToEarn works
- Official wagesEvery salary is a BLS estimate from employer payrolls (May 2025), with median and percentiles, not job ads or self-reported pay.
- Local pricesBEA price parities, Census incomes and Zillow home values show what that pay buys.
- Take-home payFederal, payroll and state income taxes for a single filer, state by state.
Salary by city: questions
How do I compare salaries between cities?
Look up your job in both cities, then adjust each salary for the local price level. A $90,000 salary in a metro with prices 15% above average buys about what $78,000 buys in a typical metro.
What is the average salary in the U.S.?
$69,770 a year across all jobs, and the median is $50,980 (BLS OEWS national estimates, May 2025).
Which city pays the most?
Among the metros we cover, San Jose, CA has the highest average salary ($119,230). After adjusting for prices, San Jose, CA comes out on top.
How often is the data updated?
BLS publishes new wage estimates every spring; price parities come out each December. The site is rebuilt when they do.