You can earn a fat paycheck, but how far it goes depends on where you live.
As part of our What People Earn series, we’re taking a look into the top U.S. cities for buying power.
First, a recap: Our parent company, American City Business Journals, took a deep data dive into the Occupational Employment Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ( we broke it down for the D.C. area). The database looked at what people made and in what jobs from 2009 through 2014.
We’ve already looked into some of the most popular jobs in America, the four-star jobs in Greater Washington, the fastest-growing jobs in Greater Washington, the fastest-declining jobs in the D.C. area and the worst-paying jobs in Greater Washington compared to other U.S. cities.
This entry dives into the best cities for buying power. American City Business Journals tapped into the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and its regional price parities data for each city. Regional price parities measure the difference in local price levels of goods and services. Those regional price parities were used to adjust the average pay for every market to reflect local purchasing power.
Take the San Diego slide in the attached slideshow as an example. The cost of living there is considerably higher than in the nation as a whole, which is why its average pay has been bumped down from the actual $75,770 to an adjusted $62,110. But Durham, which is also in the slideshow, has a lower cost of living than the national norm, which is why its average pay has been raised from the actual $55,840 to an adjusted $58,780.
These adjusted statistics indicate the real value of paychecks once the cost of living has been removed as a factor.
The slideshow looks at local average pay for all jobs in 2009 and in 2014, the local pay adjusted for purchasing power and the annual rate of change in local pay. The top 20 cities for buying power are ranked.
And where does the Washington region figure into the top 20? Check it out.
