Best cities for data and analytics pay after cost of living
Key facts
- #1 Foster, CA: $232k
- #2 San Mateo, CA: $231k
- #3 Sunnyvale, CA: $213k
- 28 cities ranked in the United States
- Data as of November 2026
For comparison: $179k across the typical city in our data.
- 1Foster CA$232k
- 2San Mateo CA$231k
- 3Sunnyvale CA$213k
- 4Palo Alto CA$207k
- 5San Francisco CA$206k
- 6San Jose CA$204k
- 7Mountain View CA$201k
- 8Santa Clara CA$199k
- 9Redmond WA$195k
- 10Ann Arbor MI$191k
What stands out
- The top ten is tightly packed: Foster leads on $232k, and #10 Ann Arbor is at $191k.
- Foster reaches #1 on a sample of 24 openings with pay posted, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.
- San Francisco is the largest market in the top ten, with 660 openings with pay posted behind its figure.
- Cities with fewer than 30 openings with pay posted are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful.
Why this ranking matters
What it shows
Pay for the same job family varies by city, and so does the cost of living. This list ranks cities on posted pay for the family after adjusting for local prices.
How to use it
Use it to see where your family's pay stretches furthest, and compare it with the city's opening count on the job-family list.
The top 25
- 1
Foster CA
$232k
- Median posted pay
- $257k
- State prices vs US average
- +11%
- Openings with pay posted
- 24
Hiring most here: Gilead Sciences
Based on 24 openings.
- 3
Sunnyvale CA
$213k
- Median posted pay
- $236k
- State prices vs US average
- +11%
- Openings with pay posted
- 62
Hiring most here: Applied Intuition, Wayve, Amazon
Based on 62 openings.
- 4
Palo Alto CA
$207k
- Median posted pay
- $228k
- Local prices vs US average
- +10%
- Openings with pay posted
- 45
Hiring most here: SpaceX, Rivian Automotive, Stanford Health Care
Based on 45 openings.
- 5
San Francisco CA
$206k
- Median posted pay
- $239k
- Local prices vs US average
- +16%
- Openings with pay posted
- 660
Hiring most here: OpenAI, Anthropic, University Of California San Francisco Foundation
Based on 660 openings.
- 6
San Jose CA
$204k
- Median posted pay
- $225k
- Local prices vs US average
- +10%
- Openings with pay posted
- 30
Hiring most here: Super Micro Computer, Advanced Micro Devices, Cisco Systems
Based on 30 openings.
- 7
Mountain View CA
$201k
- Median posted pay
- $222k
- Local prices vs US average
- +10%
- Openings with pay posted
- 130
Hiring most here: Intuit, Waymo, Google
Based on 130 openings.
- 8
Santa Clara CA
$199k
- Median posted pay
- $220k
- State prices vs US average
- +11%
- Openings with pay posted
- 69
Hiring most here: Pure Storage, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon
Based on 69 openings.
- 10
Ann Arbor MI
$191k
- Median posted pay
- $184k
- State prices vs US average
- −4%
- Openings with pay posted
- 28
Hiring most here: May Mobility, Torc Robotics, Thomson Reuters
Based on 28 openings.
- 11
Bellevue WA
$190k
- Median posted pay
- $203k
- State prices vs US average
- +7%
- Openings with pay posted
- 22
Hiring most here: Amazon, TerraPower, Okta
Based on 22 openings.
- 12
Cambridge MA
$188k
- Median posted pay
- $198k
- State prices vs US average
- +6%
- Openings with pay posted
- 30
Hiring most here: Harvard University, Biogen, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Based on 30 openings.
- 13
McLean VA
$184k
- Median posted pay
- $186k
- State prices vs US average
- +1%
- Openings with pay posted
- 32
Hiring most here: Capital One, The MITRE, Steampunk
Based on 32 openings.
- 14
Austin TX
$184k
- Median posted pay
- $180k
- Local prices vs US average
- −2%
- Openings with pay posted
- 71
Hiring most here: Amazon, Advanced Micro Devices, Cloudflare
Based on 71 openings.
- 15
Boston MA
$180k
- Median posted pay
- $195k
- Local prices vs US average
- +8%
- Openings with pay posted
- 125
Hiring most here: Vertex Pharmaceuticals, State Street, Confidential
Based on 125 openings.
- 16
New York NY
$176k
- Median posted pay
- $198k
- Local prices vs US average
- +13%
- Openings with pay posted
- 46
Hiring most here: Amazon, Publicis Groupe, Morgan Stanley
Based on 46 openings.
- 17
Dallas TX
$175k
- Median posted pay
- $180k
- Local prices vs US average
- +3%
- Openings with pay posted
- 34
Hiring most here: Amazon, Shield AI, Texas Instruments
Based on 34 openings.
- 18
Seattle WA
$171k
- Median posted pay
- $190k
- Local prices vs US average
- +11%
- Openings with pay posted
- 95
Hiring most here: Amazon, Blue Origin, Shield AI
Based on 95 openings.
- 19
New York NY
$169k
- Median posted pay
- $190k
- Local prices vs US average
- +13%
- Openings with pay posted
- 499
Hiring most here: Amazon, Publicis Groupe, Morgan Stanley
Based on 499 openings.
- 20
Los Angeles CA
$157k
- Median posted pay
- $179k
- Local prices vs US average
- +14%
- Openings with pay posted
- 48
Hiring most here: K2 Space, Cedars-sinai Medical Center, Apex Space
Based on 48 openings.
- 21
Chicago IL
$150k
- Median posted pay
- $155k
- Local prices vs US average
- +4%
- Openings with pay posted
- 93
Hiring most here: Publicis Groupe, Northern Trust, Confidential
Based on 93 openings.
- 22
Arlington VA
$148k
- Median posted pay
- $150k
- State prices vs US average
- +1%
- Openings with pay posted
- 53
Hiring most here: Amazon, AWS, Bloomberg Industry Group
Based on 53 openings.
- 23
San Diego CA
$147k
- Median posted pay
- $165k
- Local prices vs US average
- +12%
- Openings with pay posted
- 31
Hiring most here: Qualcomm Inc/De, Qualcomm Technologies, General Atomics
Based on 31 openings.
- 24
Atlanta GA
$146k
- Median posted pay
- $147k
- Local prices vs US average
- +0%
- Openings with pay posted
- 45
Hiring most here: Emory University, Oxford College of Emory University, Capgemini Invent
Based on 45 openings.
- 25
Denver CO
$144k
- Median posted pay
- $153k
- Local prices vs US average
- +6%
- Openings with pay posted
- 53
Hiring most here: True Anomaly, Blue Origin, Amazon
Based on 53 openings.
Full ranking
All 28 cities that qualified, with the figure each is ranked on.
| Rank | City | Score | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foster CA | $232k | 24 |
| 2 | San Mateo CA | $231k | 70 |
| 3 | Sunnyvale CA | $213k | 62 |
| 4 | Palo Alto CA | $207k | 45 |
| 5 | San Francisco CA | $206k | 660 |
| 6 | San Jose CA | $204k | 30 |
| 7 | Mountain View CA | $201k | 130 |
| 8 | Santa Clara CA | $199k | 69 |
| 9 | Redmond WA | $195k | 24 |
| 10 | Ann Arbor MI | $191k | 28 |
| 11 | Bellevue WA | $190k | 22 |
| 12 | Cambridge MA | $188k | 30 |
| 13 | McLean VA | $184k | 32 |
| 14 | Austin TX | $184k | 71 |
| 15 | Boston MA | $180k | 125 |
| 16 | New York NY | $176k | 46 |
| 17 | Dallas TX | $175k | 34 |
| 18 | Seattle WA | $171k | 95 |
| 19 | New York NY | $169k | 499 |
| 20 | Los Angeles CA | $157k | 48 |
| 21 | Chicago IL | $150k | 93 |
| 22 | Arlington VA | $148k | 53 |
| 23 | San Diego CA | $147k | 31 |
| 24 | Atlanta GA | $146k | 45 |
| 25 | Denver CO | $144k | 53 |
| 26 | Irvine CA | $143k | 22 |
| 27 | Charlotte NC | $142k | 40 |
| 28 | Washington DC | $136k | 96 |
The jobs behind this ranking
Open data & analytics jobs, who is hiring for them and what they pay.
- Data & Analytics jobs
- Top Data & Analytics employers
- Data Engineer 656
- Business Analyst 394
- Data Analyst 363
- Data Scientist 351
- Business Systems Analyst 257
- Senior Machine Learning Engineer 242
- Machine Learning Engineer 217
- Senior Data Engineer 198
Job titles link to their salary page where pay is posted, otherwise to the open jobs.
How this ranking works
The score is the median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) for this job family in a city, divided by its local price level, with the United States at 100.
Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities for the city's metro area, or its state where no metro figure exists. Only cities with at least 20 listings in the family that post a salary are ranked.
A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.
Sample bar: cities with fewer than 30 openings are not ranked.
Sources: NextChapter job data: posted annual salary ranges; Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities 2024 (metro areas and states). Data as of November 2026.
Our job data covers professional roles on the career sites of employers we track, so figures describe that market, not every job. Spot an error? Tell us.
Questions
- Which city ranks first: best cities for data and analytics pay after cost of living?
- Foster leads the United States for pay after the cost of living in this job family: its median posted salary buys what $232k buys at average US prices.
- How many cities are ranked?
- 28 cities have at least 30 openings with pay posted, so the list has 28 entries.
- How is the ranking calculated?
- The score is the median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) for this job family in a city, divided by its local price level, with the United States at 100. Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities for the city's metro area, or its state where no metro figure exists. Only cities with at least 20 listings in the family that post a salary are ranked. A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.
- How often is it updated?
- Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.
More rankings
Cite this ranking
NextChapter, “Best cities for data and analytics pay after cost of living,” November 2026 edition. https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-data-and-analytics-pay-vs-cost-of-living
Link to it: <a href="https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-data-and-analytics-pay-vs-cost-of-living">Best cities for data and analytics pay after cost of living (NextChapter, November 2026)</a>
Download the data: CSV · JSON. Free to use with a link back.
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