WhereToEarn shows what each job pays in each U.S. metro area and what that pay is worth after local prices and taxes. Every figure comes from a public source named on the page where it appears. Nothing is self-reported or scraped from job ads.
Salaries: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
Pay comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' OEWS program, May 2025 estimates for metropolitan areas. OEWS surveys about 1.1 million employers over three years and reports, for each job and metro area, the number of jobs, the mean (average) wage and the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentile wages. Wages include base pay, cost-of-living allowances, commissions and tips, but not overtime, bonuses or benefits.
- Average vs. median. The average is pulled up by high earners; the median is the middle wage.
- U.S. metro average. For each job we weight the average wage of every metro area in the OEWS file by its employment. It is a metro-area benchmark, not the BLS national figure, which also counts rural areas.
- Hourly pay. BLS publishes some jobs (teachers, for example) as annual only; for those we do not show an hourly wage.
- State averages. All occupations, weighted over every metro and nonmetro area whose principal state is that state.
- Reliability. Each job page shows the relative standard error (RSE) of the average wage. Pages where BLS counts fewer than 100 jobs or the RSE is above 10% stay available but are not offered to search engines.
Cost of living: BEA regional price parities
The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes regional price parities (RPP) for every metro area and state: the price level of all goods, services and rents compared with the U.S. average (100). The 2024 figures are used. "Price-adjusted salary" is the salary divided by the price parity and multiplied by 100.
Income, housing and safety
- Population and median household income: Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2023).
- Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (typical home, mid tier). Where Zillow does not cover a metro we use the Census median home value and say so on the page.
- Crime (state pages only): violent and property crimes reported to the FBI by agencies in the state, per 100,000 residents, latest 12 months available.
Take-home pay
Take-home pay is estimated for a single filer with the standard deduction: federal income tax (2026 brackets, IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32), Social Security (6.2% up to the wage base), Medicare (1.45% plus 0.9% above $200,000) and the state's income tax rules, checked against each state's revenue department. Local income taxes are included for: MI: Detroit 2.4%, Grand Rapids 1.5%, Saginaw 1.5%, Battle Creek 1%, Flint 1%, Jackson 1%, Lansing 1%, Muskegon 1%; IN: Indianapolis 2.02%, Fort Wayne 1.59%, Evansville 1.25%, South Bend 1.75%, Bloomington 2.14%, Columbus 1.75%, Elkhart 2%, Kokomo 1.95%, Lafayette 1.28%, Michigan City 1.45%, Muncie 1.5%, Terre Haute 2%; KY: Louisville 2.2%, Lexington 2.75%, Bowling Green 2%, Owensboro 1.78%, Elizabethtown 1.95%, Paducah 2%; OH: Columbus 2.5%, Cleveland 2.5%, Cincinnati 1.8%, Toledo 2.5%, Akron 2.5%, Canton 2.5%, Youngstown 2.75%, Dayton 2.5%, Springfield 2.4%, Mansfield 2.25%, Lima 1.5%, Sandusky 1.25%; MO: Kansas City 1%, St. Louis 1%.
Not included:
- Maryland's county income tax (2.25%–3.30%, charged in every county) is not included, so real take-home pay is lower.
- New York City (up to 3.876%) and Yonkers income taxes are not included.
- local earned income taxes (for example Philadelphia's wage tax) are not included.
- Portland-area Metro and Multnomah County taxes and the 0.1% statewide transit tax are not included.
- California State Disability Insurance (1.3% of wages, paid by employees) is not included.
- New Jersey's employee unemployment, disability and family-leave contributions are not included.
- Washington's WA Cares (0.58%) and Paid Family and Medical Leave payroll premiums are not included.
- Alaska's employee unemployment-insurance contribution is not included.
- Colorado's FAMLI premium and the flat monthly occupational privilege taxes of Denver, Aurora and a few other cities are not included.
- Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave premiums are not included.
- Iowa school district surtaxes (a percentage of state tax in some districts) are not included.
- Utah's taxpayer credit is estimated with the Tax Commission's withholding formula.
- Idaho's zero bracket uses the latest published amount ($4,811, 2025).
- the city income tax is that of the principal city (suburbs have their own rates) and school district income taxes are not included.
- the 1% earnings tax applies to people who live or work in Kansas City or St. Louis itself, not in the suburbs.
- Connecticut tax is computed with the Department of Revenue Services' 2026 withholding rules (exemption, credit and recapture tables).
- Hawaii's top brackets above $125,000 follow Act 46 (2024).
- Vermont tax is estimated with the Department of Taxes' 2026 withholding formula.
- Rhode Island's Temporary Disability Insurance payroll contribution is not included.
- city occupational taxes (for example in Birmingham and Gadsden) are not included.
- Minnesota Paid Leave premiums are not included.
- Maine's standard deduction phase-out above $102,250 of income is not modelled.
- Arkansas tax is estimated with the Department of Finance and Administration's 2026 withholding formula.
- Pre-tax deductions (401(k), health insurance), credits and other filing statuses.
Where a metro area crosses state lines (for example Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington) the job page shows take-home pay for each state.
Coverage
818 occupations, 393 metro areas and 52 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Take-home pay is not yet published for Puerto Rico (its own tax system; no official 2026 tables found); BEA publishes no price parity for Puerto Rico, so its cost of living shows as n/a. Metro areas are named after their first principal city; the official BLS name is shown on every page.
What to keep in mind
- Estimates describe employers in a metro area, not one company or one person. Experience, industry and employer size move individual pay a long way from the average.
- Figures are for comparison. They are not financial, tax or career advice.
Updates and corrections
BLS releases new OEWS estimates every spring and BEA updates price parities each December; the site is rebuilt after each release. Last rebuilt October 2026. If something looks wrong, tell us and we will check it against the source.
Visitor votes (city badges and "does this match your pay?") and anonymous pay reports are shown separately and never mixed with the official figures.