How salaries stack up in 4 of the world's top financial hubs

The world's top cities share several common traits, namely exceptional dining, grand architecture, and rich culture. But when it comes to cost of living and job compensation - specifically in cities where the finance industry thrives - there are some stark differences.

A recent report by salary-benchmarking site Emolument.com analyzed median job compensation (salary plus bonuses) for 5,162 professionals working in four of the world's preeminent financial hubs: New York, London, Paris, and Zurich (other financial centers around the world did not have comparably robust data).

"Financial Services remains by far the best-paying industry globally as bonuses boost the total pay package far beyond other jobs," says Alice Leguay, cofounder and chief operating officer at Emolument.

Trading is best-paying finance jobs in New York, London, and Paris is a trader (compensation figures for traders in Zurich were not available), but the median compensation for traders in New York is more than $100,000 higher than in Paris.

Read on to compare median compensation for several common high-paying jobs in New York, London, Paris, and Zurich. Note that the cost of living indices included below are relative to New York City, whose index is 100. All compensation figures were converted from euros to dollars on September 2.