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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Financial Specialists, All Other Salary: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV vs New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

Financial Specialists, All Other earn a median of $112,420 in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV and $108,970 in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ. That is a nominal gap of $3,450 (+3.2%), with Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$112,420
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV median
$103,247 after COL
$108,970
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ median
$96,808 after COL
+3.2%
Nominal gap
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV leads
+6.7%
Adjusted gap
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV pays $3,450 more per year than New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ for financial specialists, all other, a gap of +3.2%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV still comes out ahead, with roughly $6,439 of extra purchasing power (+6.7% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for financial specialists, all other in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Financial Specialists, All Other

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Median salary
$112,420
Mean salary
$117,560
Employment
6,540
Location quotient
2.54
Jobs per 1,000
2.1
COL-adjusted median
$103,247
Regional Price Parity
108.9%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Financial Specialists, All Other page for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV →

Financial Specialists, All Other

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

Median salary
$108,970
Mean salary
$152,750
Employment
8,690
Location quotient
1.12
Jobs per 1,000
0.9
COL-adjusted median
$96,808
Regional Price Parity
112.6%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Financial Specialists, All Other page for New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ →

Related pages

Keep digging into financial specialists, all other from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a metro specializes in.