Strelka Institute for Media/Architecture, and Design/Flickr
How much you earn can depend on where you live.
- Salaries are determined by several factors, including geography.
- Using data from the US Census Bureau, we looked at how much households bring in on average in the 30 biggest metropolitan areas in the US.
- Nineteen cities have an average income that exceeds the national mean household income of $84,525, nine of which are six figures.
A worker's salary varies not just by age or by job, but by geography. Where you live can help determine just how big of a paycheck you bring home.
Your earnings are likely to be more robust if you're living in a city with a higher cost of living. For example, a 30-year-old with a job in tech is likely to earn more working in an expensive city like New York City than they would working in a lower cost-of-living city like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Therefore, the average income varies from city to city. We consulted the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey to find the mean household income in the 30 biggest metropolitan areas in the United States. The survey includes data compiled in 2017 and defines household as "all the people who occupy a housing unit."
The national mean household income is $84,525 a year. About one-third of the cities on the list have an average income below that, leaving 19 cities that exceed the national average. Nine of those cities fare particularly well - workers there earn an average of six figures.
Below, see the average income in America's biggest US cities, ranked from lowest to highest paycheck.