Average annual wage and real wage growth in every MSA with at least 1,000,000 population (2015) (living, cost)
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$113,155 - San Jose
$85,788 - San Francisco/Oakland
$73,602 - Washington DC
$73,314 - New York
$72,460 - Boston
$67,613 - Seattle
$66,608 - Houston
$64,143 - Hartford
$63,133 - Denver
$62,090 - Los Angeles
$61,801 - Chicago
$60,923 - San Diego
$60,650 - Philadelphia
$59,999 - Baltimore
$58,964 - Minneapolis/St. Paul
$58,959 - Dallas/Fort Worth
$58,388 - Sacramento
$58,043 - Atlanta
$57,012 - Portland
$57,010 - Austin
$56,876 - Charlotte
$56,753 - Detroit
$54,068 - Raleigh
$53,791 - St. Louis
$53,784 - Miami
$53,707 - Kansas City
$53,169 - Pittsburgh
$52,553 - Cincinnati
$52,492 - Milwaukee
$52,430 - Richmond
$52,235 - Nashville
$52,125 - Cleveland
$52,069 - Phoenix
$51,837 - Columbus
$51,467 - Jacksonville
$51,437 - Salt Lake City
$51,167 - Honolulu
$51,078 - New Orleans
$50,643 - Tampa
$50,325 - Birmingham
$50,283 - Providence
$50,086 - Indianapolis
$49,759 - Memphis
$48,726 - Oklahoma City
$47,956 - Virginia Beach/Norfolk
$47,867 - San Antonio
$47,801 - Louisville
$47,663 - Las Vegas
$47,432 - Orlando
$46,956 - Grand Rapids
+4.1% - San Jose
+2.6% - San Francisco/Oakland
+1.8% - Seattle
+1.6% - Charlotte
+1.5% - Boston
+1.5% - Portland
+1.4% - Houston
+1.4% - Raleigh
+1.3% - Pittsburgh
+1.2% - Austin
+1.2% - Grand Rapids
+1.2% - Hartford
+1.2% - Minneapolis/St. Paul
+1.2% - Oklahoma City
+1.2% - San Diego
+1.1% - Atlanta
+1.1% - Los Angeles
+1.1% - Providence
+1.0% - Detroit
+1.0% - Nashville
+1.0% - Phoenix
+1.0% - Sacramento
+1.0% - Salt Lake City
+0.9% - Chicago
+0.9% - Cleveland
+0.9% - Dallas/Fort Worth
+0.9% - San Antonio
+0.8% - Birmingham
+0.8% - Buffalo
+0.8% - Cincinnati
+0.6% - Honolulu
+0.6% - Rochester
+0.6% - Tampa
+0.6% - Tucson
+0.5% - Indianapolis
+0.4% - Kansas City
+0.4% - Memphis
+0.4% - Richmond
+0.4% - Riverside/San Bernardino
+0.4% - St. Louis
+0.4% - Washington DC
+0.3% - Virginia Beach/Norfolk
-0.1% - New Orleans
-0.2% - Las Vegas
Annual real wage growth (2014-2015)
+5.5% - San Jose
+3.9% - Riverside/San Bernardino
+3.8% - Nashville
+3.8% - San Francisco/Oakland
+3.5% - Rochester
+3.3% - Los Angeles
+3.1% - Boston
+3.0% - Austin
+3.0% - Minneapolis/St. Paul
+3.0% - Portland
+3.0% - Sacramento
+2.9% - Honolulu
+2.9% - Milwaukee
+2.8% - Charlotte
+2.8% - Chicago
+2.8% - Detroit
+2.8% - Raleigh
+2.6% - Buffalo
+2.6% - Louisville
+2.6% - Richmond
+2.5% - Birmingham
+2.5% - Grand Rapids
+2.5% - Kansas City
+2.5% - Orlando
+2.5% - Salt Lake City
+2.4% - Miami
+2.4% - San Diego
+2.3% - Atlanta
+2.3% - Denver
+2.3% - Tampa
+2.3% - Washington DC
+2.2% - Baltimore
+2.2% - Providence
+2.1% - Jacksonville
+2.1% - Pittsburgh
+2.1% - St. Louis
+2.0% - Indianapolis
+1.9% - Philadelphia
+1.9% - San Antonio
+1.7% - Cincinnati
+1.7% - Dallas/Fort Worth
+1.7% - New York
+1.7% - Virginia Beach/Norfolk
+1.6% - Columbus
+1.6% - Las Vegas
+1.6% - Seattle
+1.4% - Hartford
+1.3% - Cleveland
+1.2% - New Orleans
+1.2% - Phoenix
I love how people say the wages will adjust to the cost of housing.
San Diego single family price/median wage: 9.10 years
San Jose single family home price/median wage 8.58 years
Houston single family home price/median wage: 3.12 years
Cleveland single family home/median wage: 2.13 years
If you factored in Cost of living, these would move around a bit. For example, after factoring in COL, Houston would be 2nd after San Jose in standard of living (I used my favorite COL comparison site). After factoring in COL, Tucson (2nd lowest) easily provides a higher average standard of living than the 2nd highest average income San Francisco.
If you factored in Cost of living, these would move around a bit. For example, after factoring in COL, Houston would be 2nd after San Jose in standard of living (I used my favorite COL comparison site). After factoring in COL, Tucson (2nd lowest) easily provides a higher average standard of living than the 2nd highest average income San Francisco.
Right up to the point where you sell your San Francisco home for more than the Tuscon wage earner makes in more than a decade.
Plus, this report doesn't take in employment/population ratio. The Twin Cities is the faraway leader in that category. When you have so many more jobs per capita, they're not all going to be gems.
Last edited by SyraBrian; 06-27-2016 at 09:40 PM..
Miami also seems to be another city where the cost of living is very high with relatively low to moderate income. Part of this could be skewed by the high amount of immigrants, retirees in the metro area, seasonal workers and then service industry jobs that don't typically pay as much.
If you factored in Cost of living, these would move around a bit. For example, after factoring in COL, Houston would be 2nd after San Jose in standard of living (I used my favorite COL comparison site). After factoring in COL, Tucson (2nd lowest) easily provides a higher average standard of living than the 2nd highest average income San Francisco.
A bigger house does not equal a 'higher standard of living'( hardly), and the Bay Area usually ranks near the top as far as credit worthiness, rate of savings etc.
COL is one thing, but being financially responsible is different.
Miami also seems to be another city where the cost of living is very high with relatively low to moderate income. Part of this could be skewed by the high amount of immigrants, retirees in the metro area, seasonal workers and then service industry jobs that don't typically pay as much.
Miami is largely a metro of haves and have nots, with the scales more heavily weighted to the have nots.
Right up to the point where you sell your San Francisco home for more than the Tuscon wage earner makes in more than a decade.
Plus, this report doesn't take in employment/population ratio. The Twin Cities is the faraway leader in that category. When you have so many more jobs per capita, they're not all going to be gems.
I agree except SF has the lowest ownership rate of any city in the USA. For the people that 'make it' there, yeah you can make a fortune when you sell and I've personally known several that took advantage of that and moved to Oregon and Washington.
BTW, I'm talking SF only, San Jose has the income to make it worth it from a financial point of view.
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