{"h1":"Best cities for pay after cost of living in New England","faq":[{"a":"Watertown leads New England for pay after the cost of living: its median posted salary buys what $193k buys at average US prices.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for pay after cost of living in new england?"},{"a":"11 cities have at least 100 openings with pay posted, so the list has 11 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"The score is a city's median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) 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 50 listings 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":"Watertown leads New England for pay after the cost of living: its median posted salary buys what $193k buys at average US prices.","minN":100,"rows":[{"n":70,"bar":1,"key":"MA|watertown","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/watertown","name":"Watertown","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$205k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"70"}],"value":193431.0018903592,"change":null,"employers":["Tutor Intelligence","Kymera Therapeutics","Treeline Biosciences"],"valueLabel":"$193k"},{"n":326,"bar":0.9686660151478135,"key":"MA|cambridge","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/cambridge","name":"Cambridge","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$198k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"326"}],"value":187370.0378071834,"change":null,"employers":["Harvard University","Biogen","Alnylam Pharmaceuticals"],"valueLabel":"$187k"},{"n":214,"bar":0.9430735401905692,"key":"MA|waltham","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/waltham","name":"Waltham","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$193k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"214"}],"value":182419.6597353497,"change":null,"employers":["Boston Dynamics","Anduril Industries","Xometry"],"valueLabel":"$182k"},{"n":74,"bar":0.8380161250916199,"key":"MA|lexington","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/lexington","name":"Lexington","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$172k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"74"}],"value":162098.2986767486,"change":null,"employers":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Lincoln Lab)","Takeda Development Center Americas","Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International"],"valueLabel":"$162k"},{"n":1622,"bar":0.8129430266163951,"key":"MA|boston","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/boston","name":"Boston","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$170k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+8%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"1,622"}],"value":157248.3841181902,"change":null,"employers":["Vertex Pharmaceuticals","Confidential","Takeda Development Center Americas"],"valueLabel":"$157k"},{"n":235,"bar":0.8013681895919863,"key":"MA|somerville","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/somerville","name":"Somerville","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$164k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"235"}],"value":155009.4517958412,"change":null,"employers":["Formlabs","Tulip Interfaces","Generate Biomedicines"],"valueLabel":"$155k"},{"n":91,"bar":0.7879306132421207,"key":"MA|quincy","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/quincy","name":"Quincy","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$161k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"91"}],"value":152410.2079395085,"change":null,"employers":["Anduril Industries","Anduril","J.Jill"],"valueLabel":"$152k"},{"n":66,"bar":0.7250794038602492,"key":"MA|burlington","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/burlington","name":"Burlington","rank":8,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$148k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"66"}],"value":140252.8355387523,"change":null,"employers":["Veracode","Vericel","Tufts Medicine Care AT Home"],"valueLabel":"$140k"},{"n":63,"bar":0.7235726879020308,"key":"CT|stamford","sub":"CT","href":"/places/connecticut/city/stamford","name":"Stamford","rank":9,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$145k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+4%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"63"}],"value":139961.38996139,"change":null,"employers":["Philip Morris International","Gartner","Charter Communications"],"valueLabel":"$140k"},{"n":63,"bar":0.6711760449849871,"key":"CT|hartford","sub":"CT","href":"/places/connecticut/city/hartford","name":"Hartford","rank":10,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$135k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+4%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"63"}],"value":129826.2548262548,"change":null,"employers":["CVS HEALTH","Hartford HealthCare","Eversource Energy"],"valueLabel":"$130k"},{"n":54,"bar":0.6230149034937699,"key":"MA|woburn","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/woburn","name":"Woburn","rank":11,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$128k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"54"}],"value":120510.3969754253,"change":null,"employers":["RTX","Spear Bio","VEIR"],"valueLabel":"$121k"}],"slug":"best-cities-for-pay-vs-cost-of-living-in-new-england","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"new-england","kind":"region","name":"New England"},"title":"Best cities for pay after cost of living in New England","family":"Pay","method":["The score is a city's median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) 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 50 listings 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":"2026-11-04T03:37:37.436Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"paycost","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":"$157k"},"keyFacts":["#1 Watertown, MA: $193k","#2 Cambridge, MA: $187k","#3 Waltham, MA: $182k","11 cities ranked in New England","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The top ten is tightly packed: Watertown leads on $193k, and #10 Hartford is at $130k.","Boston is the largest market in the top ten, with 1,622 openings with pay posted behind its figure.","Cities with fewer than 100 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-pay-vs-cost-of-living-in-new-england"}