{"h1":"Best cities for HR pay after cost of living","faq":[{"a":"San Mateo leads the United States for pay after the cost of living in this job family: its median posted salary buys what $156k buys at average US prices.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for hr pay after cost of living?"},{"a":"15 cities have at least 30 openings with pay posted, so the list has 15 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"The score is the median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) for this job family in a city, divided by its local price level, with the United States at 100. Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities for the city's metro area, or its state where no metro figure exists. Only cities with at least 20 listings in the family that post a salary are ranked. A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.","q":"How is the ranking calculated?"},{"a":"Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.","q":"How often is it updated?"}],"lead":"San Mateo leads the United States for pay after the cost of living in this job family: its median posted salary buys what $156k buys at average US prices.","minN":30,"rows":[{"n":21,"key":"CA|san mateo","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-mateo","name":"San Mateo","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$180k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+16%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"21"}],"value":155709.3425605536,"change":null,"employers":["Roblox","Verkada","Skydio"],"valueLabel":"$156k"},{"n":226,"key":"CA|san francisco","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-francisco","name":"San Francisco","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$175k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+16%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"226"}],"value":151384.0830449827,"change":null,"employers":["OpenAI","Anthropic","University Of California San Francisco Foundation"],"valueLabel":"$151k"},{"n":50,"key":"WA|seattle","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/seattle","name":"Seattle","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$166k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"50"}],"value":149189.9189918992,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Blue Origin","Shield AI"],"valueLabel":"$149k"},{"n":20,"key":"CA|mountain view","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/mountain-view","name":"Mountain View","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$154k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+10%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"20"}],"value":139673.9130434782,"change":null,"employers":["Intuit","Waymo","Google"],"valueLabel":"$140k"},{"n":32,"key":"GA|atlanta","sub":"GA","href":"/places/georgia/city/atlanta","name":"Atlanta","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$137k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+0%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"32"}],"value":136463.5364635365,"change":null,"employers":["Emory University","Oxford College of Emory University","Capgemini Invent"],"valueLabel":"$136k"},{"n":357,"key":"NY|new york","sub":"NY","href":"/places/new-york/city/new-york","name":"New York","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$150k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+13%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"357"}],"value":133214.920071048,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Publicis Groupe","Morgan Stanley"],"valueLabel":"$133k"},{"n":58,"key":"DC|washington","sub":"DC","href":"/places/district-of-columbia/city/washington","name":"Washington","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$140k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+9%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"58"}],"value":128607.4380165289,"change":null,"employers":["Anduril Industries","Shield AI","CACI International"],"valueLabel":"$129k"},{"n":39,"key":"TX|austin","sub":"TX","href":"/places/texas/city/austin","name":"Austin","rank":8,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$125k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"−2%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"39"}],"value":127420.998980632,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Advanced Micro Devices","Cloudflare"],"valueLabel":"$127k"},{"n":74,"key":"MA|boston","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/boston","name":"Boston","rank":9,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$136k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+8%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"74"}],"value":125115.4201292706,"change":null,"employers":["Vertex Pharmaceuticals","State Street","Confidential"],"valueLabel":"$125k"},{"n":20,"key":"CA|san jose","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-jose","name":"San Jose","rank":10,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$125k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+10%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"20"}],"value":113224.6376811594,"change":null,"employers":["Super Micro Computer","Advanced Micro Devices","Cisco Systems"],"valueLabel":"$113k"},{"n":83,"key":"IL|chicago","sub":"IL","href":"/places/illinois/city/chicago","name":"Chicago","rank":11,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$116k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+4%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"83"}],"value":112302.1235521236,"change":null,"employers":["Publicis Groupe","Northern Trust","Confidential"],"valueLabel":"$112k"},{"n":47,"key":"CA|los angeles","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/los-angeles","name":"Los Angeles","rank":12,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$120k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+14%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"47"}],"value":105633.8028169014,"change":null,"employers":["K2 Space","Cedars-sinai Medical Center","Apex Space"],"valueLabel":"$106k"},{"n":28,"key":"CO|denver","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/denver","name":"Denver","rank":13,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$106k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"28"}],"value":100425.3308128544,"change":null,"employers":["True Anomaly","Blue Origin","Amazon"],"valueLabel":"$100k"},{"n":23,"key":"TX|houston","sub":"TX","href":"/places/texas/city/houston","name":"Houston","rank":14,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$91k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"−1%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"23"}],"value":91784.98985801217,"change":null,"employers":["Axiom Space","Trinzic","Fervo Energy"],"valueLabel":"$92k"},{"n":23,"key":"KY|louisville","sub":"KY","href":"/places/kentucky/city/louisville","name":"Louisville","rank":15,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$80k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"−10%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"23"}],"value":88691.79600886918,"change":null,"employers":["BrightSpring Health Services","Norton Healthcare","GE Appliances"],"valueLabel":"$89k"}],"slug":"best-cities-for-hr-pay-vs-cost-of-living","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"us","kind":"national","name":"United States"},"title":"Best cities for HR pay after cost of living","family":"Job families","method":["The score is the median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) for this job family in a city, divided by its local price level, with the United States at 100.","Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities for the city's metro area, or its state where no metro figure exists. Only cities with at least 20 listings in the family that post a salary are ranked.","A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score."],"builtAt":"2026-11-02T22:06:17.622Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"fnpay","sources":["NextChapter job data: posted annual salary ranges","Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities 2024 (metro areas and states)"],"baseline":{"label":"the typical city in our data","valueLabel":"$133k"},"keyFacts":["#1 San Mateo, CA: $156k","#2 San Francisco, CA: $151k","#3 Seattle, WA: $149k","15 cities ranked in the United States","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The top ten is tightly packed: San Mateo leads on $156k, and #10 San Jose is at $113k.","Mountain View reaches #4 on a sample of 20 openings with pay posted, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.","New York is the largest market in the top ten, with 357 openings with pay posted behind its figure.","Cities with fewer than 30 openings with pay posted are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful."],"license":"Free to use and share with a link to https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-hr-pay-vs-cost-of-living"}