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An independent salary reference. Not affiliated with BLS or any U.S. government agency.

Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Compare Salaries Across US Locations

Pick any occupation and two locations to see how pay compares side by side. Each comparison shows nominal wages, employment, and a cost-of-living adjusted view so a high-cost metro with a higher salary does not automatically win.

Build a comparison

Choose an occupation, then two states or two metros to compare. The result shows median wages in each location, the difference in nominal dollars, and what the gap looks like after adjusting for local cost of living.

Both locations must be the same type (state vs state, or metro vs metro).

Popular comparisons

A few common salary questions people look up. Click any pairing to jump straight to the comparison.

Compare by state

Software Developers

Compare by state

Registered Nurses

Compare by state

Accountants and Auditors

What a comparison shows you

Every comparison page gives you both the headline nominal numbers and the view after adjusting for local cost of living. These often disagree, and the difference can be significant.

Nominal wages

The raw median salary in each location, straight from the BLS survey. Good for comparing offer letters or deciding between two employers in different cities.

Cost-of-living adjusted

The same wages re-expressed in a common price level using BEA Regional Price Parities. This is what your paycheck actually buys compared to the national average.

Local employment

How many workers in each occupation are employed in each location, along with the local concentration compared to the national average.

Start from a popular occupation

Jump straight to an occupation page to pick two states or metros from its peer tables.

Common questions about salary comparisons

Why do the nominal and adjusted numbers sometimes disagree? +

A higher nominal salary in an expensive city can buy less than a lower salary in a cheaper one. The cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities to express each location's wages at the national price level, so you can compare real purchasing power rather than raw dollars.

Why can't I compare a state to a metro? +

State-wide and metro-level averages are built from different samples, so comparing them directly would be misleading. Use two states for a broad comparison, or two metros for a city-to-city view.

Where does the data come from? +

Wage data comes from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. Cost-of-living adjustments come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities. Both are published annually and reflect the most recent release available on this site.