{"h1":"Best cities for life sciences and biotech pay after cost of living","faq":[{"a":"Waltham leads the United States for pay after the cost of living in this industry: its median posted salary buys what $221k buys at average US prices.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for life sciences and biotech pay after cost of living?"},{"a":"10 cities have at least 30 openings with pay posted, so the list has 10 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"The score is the median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) for roles at employers in this industry 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 industry 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":"Waltham leads the United States for pay after the cost of living in this industry: its median posted salary buys what $221k buys at average US prices.","minN":30,"rows":[{"n":40,"bar":1,"key":"MA|waltham","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/waltham","name":"Waltham","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$234k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"40"}],"value":221391.7769376181,"change":null,"employers":["Boston Dynamics","Anduril Industries","Xometry"],"valueLabel":"$221k"},{"n":43,"bar":0.9584494039042405,"key":"MA|somerville","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/somerville","name":"Somerville","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$225k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"43"}],"value":212192.8166351607,"change":null,"employers":["Formlabs","Tulip Interfaces","Generate Biomedicines"],"valueLabel":"$212k"},{"n":49,"bar":0.9548550616814239,"key":"NJ|princeton","sub":"NJ","href":"/places/new-jersey/city/princeton","name":"Princeton","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$230k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+9%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"49"}],"value":211397.0588235294,"change":null,"employers":["Genmab A/S","Otsuka","ZS Associates"],"valueLabel":"$211k"},{"n":161,"bar":0.9384098883921981,"key":"MA|boston","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/boston","name":"Boston","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$225k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+8%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"161"}],"value":207756.2326869806,"change":null,"employers":["Vertex Pharmaceuticals","State Street","Confidential"],"valueLabel":"$208k"},{"n":157,"bar":0.92984534597035,"key":"MA|cambridge","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/cambridge","name":"Cambridge","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$218k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"157"}],"value":205860.1134215501,"change":null,"employers":["Harvard University","Biogen","Alnylam Pharmaceuticals"],"valueLabel":"$206k"},{"n":40,"bar":0.8186310610184325,"key":"MA|lexington","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/lexington","name":"Lexington","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$192k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"40"}],"value":181238.1852551985,"change":null,"employers":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Lincoln Lab)","Takeda Development Center Americas","Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International"],"valueLabel":"$181k"},{"n":61,"bar":0.801003734607435,"key":"CA|san francisco","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-francisco","name":"San Francisco","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$205k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+16%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"61"}],"value":177335.6401384083,"change":null,"employers":["OpenAI","Anthropic","University Of California San Francisco Foundation"],"valueLabel":"$177k"},{"n":51,"bar":0.7507005751504021,"key":"NY|new york","sub":"NY","href":"/places/new-york/city/new-york","name":"New York","rank":8,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$187k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+13%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"51"}],"value":166198.9342806395,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Publicis Groupe","Morgan Stanley"],"valueLabel":"$166k"},{"n":91,"bar":0.716484475703915,"key":"CA|san diego","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-diego","name":"San Diego","rank":9,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$178k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+12%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"91"}],"value":158623.7712243074,"change":null,"employers":["Qualcomm Inc/De","Qualcomm Technologies","General Atomics"],"valueLabel":"$159k"},{"n":24,"bar":0.5416583255519085,"key":"CA|irvine","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/irvine","name":"Irvine","rank":10,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$133k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"24"}],"value":119918.6991869919,"change":null,"employers":["Anduril Industries","Field AI","Rivian Automotive"],"valueLabel":"$120k"}],"slug":"best-cities-for-life-sciences-and-biotech-pay-vs-cost-of-living","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"us","kind":"national","name":"United States"},"title":"Best cities for life sciences and biotech pay after cost of living","family":"Industry markets","method":["The score is the median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) for roles at employers in this industry 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 industry 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":"2026-11-03T03:57:58.028Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"icpay","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":"$183k"},"keyFacts":["#1 Waltham, MA: $221k","#2 Somerville, MA: $212k","#3 Princeton, NJ: $211k","10 cities ranked in the United States","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The lead is wide: Waltham ($221k) is well clear of Irvine at #10 ($120k).","Irvine reaches #10 on a sample of 24 openings with pay posted, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.","Boston is the largest market in the top ten, with 161 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-life-sciences-and-biotech-pay-vs-cost-of-living"}