Would a larger paycheck leave you with more money to spend? That depends, in part, on where you live. A salary that looks attractive on a job posting may buy less than you expect once you pay for housing and other expenses.

An earlier post looked at metropolitan areas with the highest median wages. But a reader raised a reasonable concern: those rankings did not account for local prices. We addressed that concern in our LinkedIn newsletter, Navigate What’s Next, with a list of 10 metropolitan areas where median salaries go the farthest. Here we expand that list to 20 using the same Bureau of Economic Analysis price adjustment.

San Jose remains first. Rochester, Minnesota, moves into second place. The expanded list also brings in markets such as Madison, Wisconsin, and Oshkosh-Neenah, Wisconsin, where below-average prices improve the purchasing power of local wages. These results can help you decide where to research employers and job opportunities.

What you will learn

This post explains how we adjusted median wages for local prices, presents the top 20 metropolitan areas, and suggests ways to use the information in your job search. We will also update this information after the new BEA Regional Price Parities become available in December 2026.

How we account for the cost of living

BEA Regional Price Parities, or RPPs, compare price levels across metropolitan areas with the national average of 100. An RPP of 110 means prices are about 10% above the national average. An RPP of 90 means prices are about 10% below it. We use the all-items RPP, which includes goods and services, including housing rents.

The calculation is straightforward: adjusted median wage = median annual wage ÷ (RPP ÷ 100). For example, a $60,000 wage in a metro with an RPP of 90 has purchasing power comparable to about $66,667 at national-average prices.

We combined May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics with BEA’s 2024 RPPs, released February 19, 2026. These are different reference years, so the adjusted figures are estimates of relative purchasing power. They are not an exact measure of 2025 purchasing power or the salary an employer will offer you.

The wage measure is the median annual wage for all occupations. Half of workers earn more than the median and half earn less. It is different from an average salary or median household income. BLS covers wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments and excludes self-employed workers.

The top 20 metropolitan areas

The table ranks 387 U.S. metropolitan areas with matching BLS wage and BEA price data. Adjusted wages are expressed in dollars at national-average prices. We calculated the ranking with BEA’s full published RPP precision, then rounded the displayed RPPs to one decimal and adjusted wages to the nearest dollar.

Rank	Metro area	Median annual wage	2024 RPP	Adjusted median wage
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$84,050	110.4	$76,116
2	Rochester, MN	$60,620	90.8	$66,747
3	Boulder, CO	$69,580	105.2	$66,139
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$72,610	111.1	$65,336
5	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$71,060	108.9	$65,262
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$74,260	115.6	$64,232
7	Lexington Park, MD	$63,990	100.8	$63,507
8	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$60,720	97.6	$62,231
9	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$66,620	108.3	$61,534
10	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$63,490	103.2	$61,533
11	Fairbanks-College, AK	$61,810	103.2	$59,889
12	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$63,200	105.6	$59,845
13	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$61,960	103.7	$59,767
14	Madison, WI	$58,080	97.3	$59,700
15	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$60,020	100.9	$59,456
16	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$62,320	105.8	$58,914
17	Longview-Kelso, WA	$57,420	97.5	$58,865
18	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$58,460	99.6	$58,715
19	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$59,940	102.7	$58,338
20	Oshkosh-Neenah, WI	$54,060	92.9	$58,173

Sources: BLS May 2025 OEWS metropolitan estimates and BEA 2024 all-items metropolitan RPPs. Boston and Trenton-Princeton are effectively tied; their unrounded adjusted wages differ by less than $1. The rounded RPP shown in the table may produce a slightly different result if you repeat the calculation.

What changes when we consider prices

San Jose’s median annual wage of $84,050 becomes about $76,116 after adjustment. Its price level is above the national average, but its wage advantage is large enough to keep it first. San Francisco moves from second in the nominal-wage ranking to sixth after adjustment. Its $74,260 median wage becomes about $64,232 at national-average prices.

Rochester offers a different example. Its median wage is $60,620, placing it 17th in our earlier nominal-wage ranking. Prices are about 9% below the national average, and its adjusted wage rises to $66,747. That puts Rochester second on this list. Durham-Chapel Hill also benefits from below-average prices, moving from 15th by nominal wage to eighth after adjustment.

Eight metros from our original list of the 10 highest median wages remain in the adjusted top 10: San Jose, Boulder, Seattle, Washington, San Francisco, Lexington Park, Boston, and Trenton-Princeton. Bremerton and Denver move to 12th and 16th. Both remain in the expanded top 20.

The additional 10 markets deserve a look.

Fairbanks, Bremerton, and Olympia occupy positions 11 through 13. Their median wages range from $61,810 to $63,200, while their adjusted wages fall within about $123 of one another. Small ranking differences like these give you little reason to favor one market without researching the work available there.

Madison ranks 14th. Its $58,080 median wage becomes about $59,700 after the adjustment because its price level is below the national average. Burlington follows at 15th, with an adjusted wage of about $59,456. Denver ranks 16th at about $58,914.

Longview-Kelso and Albany-Schenectady-Troy rank 17th and 18th. Both have below-average price levels. Hartford ranks 19th, and Oshkosh-Neenah completes the top 20. Oshkosh-Neenah’s $54,060 median wage becomes about $58,173 after adjustment. This is one reason a jobseeker may want to look beyond the places with the largest paychecks.

Key takeaways: you can use the ranking to focus your job search.

Start with your occupation. A metro-wide median combines workers in many different jobs. Your occupation may pay more in a market farther down this list, or that market may have more employers who need your skills. Compare BLS wages for your specific occupation and read current job announcements before selecting locations.

A list of target cities can be useful when you turn it into a focused career marketing campaign. Our list of cities with the highest median salaries, adjusted for prices, should help you construct your personal target list.

We will update our rankings in December 2026.

BEA currently schedules its next RPP release for December 10, 2026. We will update this information after the new RPPs become available in December 2026, recalculate the adjusted wages, and review any changes in the top 20. The new price data will help us compare wages and prices for the same reference year, subject to the data included in that release.