These 10 Cities Have the Largest Concentration of Jobs Paying Over $500K in Salary
Written by
Heather Altamirano
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Molly Sullivan
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If you’re in the market for a high-paying gig, it might be more in reach than you think. According to a November report from ADP, 1 in every 127 jobs pays more than $500,000 a year in the U.S.
“I was not expecting that such high wages would be present in non-negligible numbers pretty much everywhere,” author of the study Issi Romem, research fellow, ADP Research, told CNBC Make It.
However, that big $500,000 income depends on where you live. Specific areas have more workers earning considerably high incomes and when it came to the No.1 region, it was “in a league of its own,” the study found.
ADP ranked the areas where the substantially well-paid employees are living — here are the top 10.
1. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 2.08%
2. Austin-Round Rock, Texas
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 1.16%
3. New York-Newark, New York
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 1.07%
4. Cape Coral-Fort Myers-Naples, Florida
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 1.02%
5. Boston-Worcester-Providence, Massachusetts
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 1.01%
6. North Port-Sarasota, Florida
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 0.98%
7. Denver-Aurora, Colorado
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 0.94%
8. San Diego-Carlsbad
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 0.93%
9. Seattle-Tacoma, Washington
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 0.90%
10. Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, Pennsylvania
- Share of jobs paying over $500,000/year: 0.89%
The San Francisco Bay Area’s Silicon Valley is where the world’s powerhouse tech giants have set up their headquarters. There you’ll find tech leaders such as Apple, Hewlett Packard, Google, eBay, Intel and more. The study found 1 in 48 jobs in this area pay more than $500,000 a year, which is almost twice the share as in Austin, the second-highest region.
Certain industries like tech pay more for top notch expertise, but another factor for specific metros that have a large concentration of substantial income is due to the high cost of living. Lower-income earners are pushed out and replaced with more high-income earners.
In fact, seven out of the 10 most expensive cities to live in, according to a Doxo November household spending report, are also in the top 10 for ADP’s highest-earning jobs list such as the San Jose and the San Francisco area, as well as New York, which ranked No. 2 on Doxo’s list.
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Sources
- ADP Research, High-paying jobs? They’re a dime a dozen
- CNBC Make It, Top 10 big U.S. cities where residents spend most on monthly bills
