{"h1":"Best cities for product pay after cost of living","faq":[{"a":"Santa Clara leads the United States for pay after the cost of living in this job family: its median posted salary buys what $224k buys at average US prices.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for product pay after cost of living?"},{"a":"14 cities have at least 30 openings with pay posted, so the list has 14 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":"Santa Clara leads the United States for pay after the cost of living in this job family: its median posted salary buys what $224k buys at average US prices.","minN":30,"rows":[{"n":36,"key":"CA|santa clara","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/santa-clara","name":"Santa Clara","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$248k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"36"}],"value":223577.2357723577,"change":null,"employers":["Pure Storage","Advanced Micro Devices","Amazon"],"valueLabel":"$224k"},{"n":36,"key":"CA|san mateo","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-mateo","name":"San Mateo","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$255k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+16%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"36"}],"value":220588.2352941177,"change":null,"employers":["Roblox","Verkada","Skydio"],"valueLabel":"$221k"},{"n":45,"key":"CA|mountain view","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/mountain-view","name":"Mountain View","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$230k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+10%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"45"}],"value":208333.3333333333,"change":null,"employers":["Intuit","Waymo","Google"],"valueLabel":"$208k"},{"n":22,"key":"WA|bellevue","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/bellevue","name":"Bellevue","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$222k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+7%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"22"}],"value":207831.7757009346,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","TerraPower","Okta"],"valueLabel":"$208k"},{"n":45,"key":"TX|austin","sub":"TX","href":"/places/texas/city/austin","name":"Austin","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$200k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"−2%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"45"}],"value":204041.7940876657,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Advanced Micro Devices","Cloudflare"],"valueLabel":"$204k"},{"n":27,"key":"CA|sunnyvale","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/sunnyvale","name":"Sunnyvale","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$225k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"27"}],"value":203252.0325203252,"change":null,"employers":["Applied Intuition","Wayve","Amazon"],"valueLabel":"$203k"},{"n":38,"key":"CA|palo alto","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/palo-alto","name":"Palo Alto","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$221k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+10%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"38"}],"value":199909.420289855,"change":null,"employers":["SpaceX","Rivian Automotive","Stanford Health Care"],"valueLabel":"$200k"},{"n":367,"key":"CA|san francisco","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-francisco","name":"San Francisco","rank":8,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$225k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+16%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"367"}],"value":194636.6782006921,"change":null,"employers":["OpenAI","Anthropic","University Of California San Francisco Foundation"],"valueLabel":"$195k"},{"n":273,"key":"NY|new york","sub":"NY","href":"/places/new-york/city/new-york","name":"New York","rank":9,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$213k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+13%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"273"}],"value":188721.1367673179,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Publicis Groupe","Morgan Stanley"],"valueLabel":"$189k"},{"n":37,"key":"WA|seattle","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/seattle","name":"Seattle","rank":10,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$205k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"37"}],"value":184158.4158415842,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Blue Origin","Shield AI"],"valueLabel":"$184k"},{"n":44,"key":"MA|boston","sub":"MA","href":"/places/massachusetts/city/boston","name":"Boston","rank":11,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$187k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+8%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"44"}],"value":172458.4487534626,"change":null,"employers":["Vertex Pharmaceuticals","State Street","Confidential"],"valueLabel":"$172k"},{"n":38,"key":"IL|chicago","sub":"IL","href":"/places/illinois/city/chicago","name":"Chicago","rank":12,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$161k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+4%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"38"}],"value":155646.7181467181,"change":null,"employers":["Publicis Groupe","Northern Trust","Confidential"],"valueLabel":"$156k"},{"n":28,"key":"CA|los angeles","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/los-angeles","name":"Los Angeles","rank":13,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$176k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+14%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"28"}],"value":155325.7042253521,"change":null,"employers":["K2 Space","Cedars-sinai Medical Center","Apex Space"],"valueLabel":"$155k"},{"n":23,"key":"NY|new york","sub":"NY","href":"/places/new-york/city/new-york","name":"New York","rank":14,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$168k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+13%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"23"}],"value":148756.6607460036,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Publicis Groupe","Morgan Stanley"],"valueLabel":"$149k"}],"slug":"best-cities-for-product-pay-vs-cost-of-living","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"us","kind":"national","name":"United States"},"title":"Best cities for product 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":"$192k"},"keyFacts":["#1 Santa Clara, CA: $224k","#2 San Mateo, CA: $221k","#3 Mountain View, CA: $208k","14 cities ranked in the United States","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The top ten is tightly packed: Santa Clara leads on $224k, and #10 Seattle is at $184k.","San Francisco is the largest market in the top ten, with 367 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-product-pay-vs-cost-of-living"}