{"h1":"Best cities for pay after cost of living in the Mountain West","faq":[{"a":"Boulder leads the Mountain West for pay after the cost of living: its median posted salary buys what $144k buys at average US prices.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for pay after cost of living in the mountain west?"},{"a":"11 cities have at least 100 openings with pay posted, so the list has 11 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"The score is a city's median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) 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 50 listings 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.","q":"How is the ranking calculated?"},{"a":"Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.","q":"How often is it updated?"}],"lead":"Boulder leads the Mountain West for pay after the cost of living: its median posted salary buys what $144k buys at average US prices.","minN":100,"rows":[{"n":143,"bar":1,"key":"CO|boulder","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/boulder","name":"Boulder","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$149k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+3%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"143"}],"value":144034.9175557711,"change":null,"employers":["BAE Systems","Scitec Innovations","Atom Computing"],"valueLabel":"$144k"},{"n":63,"bar":1,"key":"CO|broomfield","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/broomfield","name":"Broomfield","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$149k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+3%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"63"}],"value":144034.9175557711,"change":null,"employers":["BAE Systems","Crocs","Katalyst Ventures"],"valueLabel":"$144k"},{"n":111,"bar":0.9898989898989898,"key":"CO|westminster","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/westminster","name":"Westminster","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$147k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+3%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"111"}],"value":142580.0193986421,"change":null,"employers":["CesiumAstro","BAE Systems","Loenbro"],"valueLabel":"$143k"},{"n":66,"bar":0.9681818181818183,"key":"CO|aurora","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/aurora","name":"Aurora","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$144k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+3%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"66"}],"value":139451.9883608148,"change":null,"employers":["CACI International","Northrop Grumman","RTX"],"valueLabel":"$139k"},{"n":213,"bar":0.9476973986579648,"key":"UT|salt lake city","sub":"UT","href":"/places/utah/city/salt-lake-city","name":"Salt Lake City","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$135k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"−1%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"213"}],"value":136501.5166835187,"change":null,"employers":["L3HARRIS Technologies","iCapital","Harris Health Strategic Fund"],"valueLabel":"$137k"},{"n":840,"bar":0.9219829040244919,"key":"CO|denver","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/denver","name":"Denver","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$141k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+6%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"840"}],"value":132797.7315689981,"change":null,"employers":["True Anomaly","Blue Origin","Amazon"],"valueLabel":"$133k"},{"n":55,"bar":0.9167915824915824,"key":"NV|reno","sub":"NV","href":"/places/nevada/city/reno","name":"Reno","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$132k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+0%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"55"}],"value":132050,"change":null,"employers":["IGT","Amperesand","Caesars Entertainment"],"valueLabel":"$132k"},{"n":70,"bar":0.9087383432933172,"key":"ID|boise","sub":"ID","href":null,"name":"Boise","rank":8,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$125k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"−5%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"70"}],"value":130890.052356021,"change":null,"employers":["Simplot Company Foundation","Micron","Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories"],"valueLabel":"$131k"},{"n":50,"bar":0.8161616161616163,"key":"CO|englewood","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/englewood","name":"Englewood","rank":9,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$121k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+3%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"50"}],"value":117555.7710960233,"change":null,"employers":["General Atomics","Sargent & Lundy","Lockheed Martin"],"valueLabel":"$118k"},{"n":115,"bar":0.8080808080808082,"key":"CO|colorado springs","sub":"CO","href":"/places/colorado/city/colorado-springs","name":"Colorado Springs","rank":10,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$120k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+3%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"115"}],"value":116391.8525703201,"change":null,"employers":["Northrop Grumman","Trinzic","Odyssey Systems Consulting"],"valueLabel":"$116k"},{"n":146,"bar":0.7968238606961161,"key":"NV|las vegas","sub":"NV","href":"/places/nevada/city/las-vegas","name":"Las Vegas","rank":11,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$115k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+0%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"146"}],"value":114770.4590818363,"change":null,"employers":["Caesars Entertainment","Allegiant Travel Company","Jt4"],"valueLabel":"$115k"}],"slug":"best-cities-for-pay-vs-cost-of-living-in-the-mountain-west","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"mountain-west","kind":"region","name":"Mountain West"},"title":"Best cities for pay after cost of living in the Mountain West","family":"Pay","method":["The score is a city's median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) 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 50 listings 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."],"builtAt":"2026-11-04T03:37:37.436Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"paycost","sources":["NextChapter job data: posted annual salary ranges","Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities 2024 (metro areas and states)"],"baseline":{"label":"the typical city in our data","valueLabel":"$132k"},"keyFacts":["#1 Boulder, CO: $144k","#2 Broomfield, CO: $144k","#3 Westminster, CO: $143k","11 cities ranked in the Mountain West","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The top ten is tightly packed: Boulder leads on $144k, and #10 Colorado Springs is at $116k.","Englewood reaches #9 on a sample of 50 openings with pay posted, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.","Denver is the largest market in the top ten, with 840 openings with pay posted behind its figure.","Cities with fewer than 100 openings with pay posted are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful."],"license":"Free to use and share with a link to https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-pay-vs-cost-of-living-in-the-mountain-west"}