Best cities for product pay after cost of living
Key facts
- #1 Santa Clara, CA: $224k
- #2 San Mateo, CA: $221k
- #3 Mountain View, CA: $208k
- 14 cities ranked in the United States
- Data as of November 2026
For comparison: $191k across the typical city in our data.
- 1Santa Clara CA$224k
- 2San Mateo CA$221k
- 3Mountain View CA$208k
- 4Bellevue WA$208k
- 5Austin TX$204k
- 6Sunnyvale CA$203k
- 7Palo Alto CA$201k
- 8San Francisco CA$195k
- 9New York NY$187k
- 10Seattle WA$184k
What stands out
- The top ten is tightly packed: Santa Clara leads on $224k, and #10 Seattle is at $184k.
- San Francisco is the largest market in the top ten, with 368 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
Santa Clara CA
$224k
- Median posted pay
- $248k
- State prices vs US average
- +11%
- Openings with pay posted
- 37
Hiring most here: Pure Storage, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon
Based on 37 openings.
- 3
Mountain View CA
$208k
- Median posted pay
- $230k
- Local prices vs US average
- +10%
- Openings with pay posted
- 45
Hiring most here: Intuit, Waymo, Google
Based on 45 openings.
- 4
Bellevue WA
$208k
- Median posted pay
- $222k
- State prices vs US average
- +7%
- Openings with pay posted
- 22
Hiring most here: Amazon, TerraPower, Okta
Based on 22 openings.
- 5
Austin TX
$204k
- Median posted pay
- $200k
- Local prices vs US average
- −2%
- Openings with pay posted
- 45
Hiring most here: Amazon, Advanced Micro Devices, Cloudflare
Based on 45 openings.
- 6
Sunnyvale CA
$203k
- Median posted pay
- $225k
- State prices vs US average
- +11%
- Openings with pay posted
- 27
Hiring most here: Applied Intuition, Wayve, Amazon
Based on 27 openings.
- 7
Palo Alto CA
$201k
- Median posted pay
- $222k
- Local prices vs US average
- +10%
- Openings with pay posted
- 39
Hiring most here: SpaceX, Rivian Automotive, Stanford Health Care
Based on 39 openings.
- 8
San Francisco CA
$195k
- Median posted pay
- $225k
- Local prices vs US average
- +16%
- Openings with pay posted
- 368
Hiring most here: OpenAI, Anthropic, University Of California San Francisco Foundation
Based on 368 openings.
- 9
New York NY
$187k
- Median posted pay
- $210k
- Local prices vs US average
- +13%
- Openings with pay posted
- 276
Hiring most here: Amazon, Publicis Groupe, Morgan Stanley
Based on 276 openings.
- 10
Seattle WA
$184k
- Median posted pay
- $205k
- Local prices vs US average
- +11%
- Openings with pay posted
- 37
Hiring most here: Amazon, Blue Origin, Shield AI
Based on 37 openings.
- 11
Boston MA
$171k
- Median posted pay
- $185k
- Local prices vs US average
- +8%
- Openings with pay posted
- 47
Hiring most here: Vertex Pharmaceuticals, State Street, Confidential
Based on 47 openings.
- 12
Chicago IL
$156k
- Median posted pay
- $161k
- Local prices vs US average
- +4%
- Openings with pay posted
- 38
Hiring most here: Publicis Groupe, Northern Trust, Confidential
Based on 38 openings.
- 13
Los Angeles CA
$154k
- Median posted pay
- $175k
- Local prices vs US average
- +14%
- Openings with pay posted
- 30
Hiring most here: K2 Space, Cedars-sinai Medical Center, Apex Space
Based on 30 openings.
- 14
New York NY
$149k
- Median posted pay
- $168k
- Local prices vs US average
- +13%
- Openings with pay posted
- 23
Hiring most here: Amazon, Publicis Groupe, Morgan Stanley
Based on 23 openings.
Full ranking
All 14 cities that qualified, with the figure each is ranked on.
| Rank | City | Score | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara CA | $224k | 37 |
| 2 | San Mateo CA | $221k | 36 |
| 3 | Mountain View CA | $208k | 45 |
| 4 | Bellevue WA | $208k | 22 |
| 5 | Austin TX | $204k | 45 |
| 6 | Sunnyvale CA | $203k | 27 |
| 7 | Palo Alto CA | $201k | 39 |
| 8 | San Francisco CA | $195k | 368 |
| 9 | New York NY | $187k | 276 |
| 10 | Seattle WA | $184k | 37 |
| 11 | Boston MA | $171k | 47 |
| 12 | Chicago IL | $156k | 38 |
| 13 | Los Angeles CA | $154k | 30 |
| 14 | New York NY | $149k | 23 |
The jobs behind this ranking
Open product jobs, who is hiring for them and what they pay.
- Product jobs
- Top Product employers
- Senior Product Manager 1,005
- Product Manager 993
- Staff Product Manager 285
- Principal Product Manager 276
- Lead Specialist 146
- Technical Product Manager 141
- Sr. Product Manager 129
- Product Owner 121
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 product pay after cost of living?
- Santa Clara leads the United States for pay after the cost of living in this job family: its median posted salary buys what $224k buys at average US prices.
- How many cities are ranked?
- 14 cities have at least 30 openings with pay posted, so the list has 14 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 product pay after cost of living,” November 2026 edition. https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-product-pay-vs-cost-of-living
Link to it: <a href="https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-product-pay-vs-cost-of-living">Best cities for product pay after cost of living (NextChapter, November 2026)</a>
Download the data: CSV · JSON. Free to use with a link back.
The job market, once a week
One email every Tuesday with the week's most useful read on the job market and the search, plus occasional news from NextChapter. No account needed. Unsubscribe any time.
Applying and hearing nothing back?
Find out where you stand: your odds, the jobs that fit you and a plan for the week ahead. Free. No résumé needed.
Already a member? Log in
Run a workforce board, job center or economic development office, or hire in the places and industries on this list?
Leave your work email. We'll send how organizations use NextChapter to reach job seekers.