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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Purchasing Managers Salary: Tallahassee, FL vs San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Purchasing Managers earn a median of $90,890 in Tallahassee, FL and $194,510 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA. That is a nominal gap of $103,620 (-53.3%), with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 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.

$90,890
Tallahassee, FL median
$96,775 after COL
$194,510
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA median
$176,150 after COL
-53.3%
Nominal gap
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA leads
-45.1%
Adjusted gap
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA pays $103,620 more per year than Tallahassee, FL for purchasing managers, a gap of +53.3%.

After adjusting for cost of living, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA still comes out ahead, with roughly $79,375 of extra purchasing power (+45.1% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Purchasing Managers

Tallahassee, FL

Median salary
$90,890
Mean salary
$111,450
Employment
80
Location quotient
0.80
Jobs per 1,000
0.4
COL-adjusted median
$96,775
Regional Price Parity
93.9%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Purchasing Managers page for Tallahassee, FL →

Purchasing Managers

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Median salary
$194,510
Mean salary
$218,630
Employment
650
Location quotient
1.08
Jobs per 1,000
0.6
COL-adjusted median
$176,150
Regional Price Parity
110.4%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Purchasing Managers page for San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into purchasing managers 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.