For 62 of 142 Big Jobs, the Best-Paying State Changes After Prices.

Ask which state pays the most for a job and you get one answer. Ask which state pays the most once you account for what things cost there and, for 62 of the 142 large occupations we checked, you get a different one.

The figures come from the federal wage survey behind WageTruth, Veraino’s salary-lookup site: the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ May 2025 wage estimates for every state and the District of Columbia, set against the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ 2024 price levels for each of them. Retail salespersons earn the most on paper in Washington ($39,560 a year at the median). Once prices are counted, North Dakota comes out ahead.

What the two rankings are

On paper means the state with the highest median annual wage. The BLS defines an occupation’s median this way: “An occupational median wage (50th percentile) estimate is the boundary between the highest paid 50 percent and the lowest paid 50 percent of workers in that occupation.”

After prices means each state’s median divided by its regional price parity over 100. The BEA describes those parities this way: “Regional price parities (RPPs) measure the differences in price levels across states and metropolitan areas for a given year and are expressed as a percentage of the overall national price level.” A state at 110 costs 10% more than the national average, so a $110,000 median there buys what $100,000 buys at the national average.

We kept large occupations only: at least 100,000 people employed nationally, and at least 40 states (counting D.C.) with 1,000 or more people in the job and a published median. That leaves 142 occupations.

The 20 largest, side by side

Median annual wage, May 2025. “Adjusted” is in national-price dollars (U.S. = 100). Source: BLS OEWS; BEA regional price parities, 2024. The 20 occupations with the most jobs nationally, of the 142.

Customer service representatives pay the most on paper in Washington ($50,330). After prices Washington ranks 12th and Iowa leads. General maintenance and repair workers pay the most on paper in the District of Columbia ($60,310), which ranks 13th once prices are counted, behind Minnesota. Cashiers in D.C. ($38,880) rank 6th after prices, behind Vermont.

Where the answer does not change

For the other 80 occupations, the same state leads either way. Among the 20 above, that includes registered nurses (California, $140,270), software developers (California, $174,410), general and operations managers (New Jersey, $173,690), accountants and auditors (District of Columbia, $111,530), heavy truck drivers (Alaska, $70,100) and home health and personal care aides (Washington, $47,730). The price adjustment lowers those leaders’ medians, as it does for every state above the national price level, but it does not change who is first. And an on-paper leader never fell below the U.S. median after the adjustment: in none of the 142 occupations.

What this data does not tell you

• Why a state leads. The wage survey records what workers were paid, not why one state pays more, so we do not offer a cause.
• Your city. Both figures are statewide. A state’s price level is an average across its cities and towns, and a job in one metro can pay and cost very differently from the state as a whole.
• Your own costs. A price index covers a broad basket of goods and services. Your rent, commute or childcare may not track it.
• Small gaps. Medians are survey estimates. A state that leads by a few hundred dollars is not clearly ahead of the one behind it, and we did not test for that.

How we ran the numbers

Wages are the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 estimates, as loaded into WageTruth and queried on 2026-09-28: annual median wage by detailed occupation for each state and the District of Columbia, plus the U.S. figure. Prices are the BEA state regional price parities for 2024 (all items, U.S. = 100), released February 19, 2026. Each state’s median was divided by its parity over 100.

Floors: an occupation is included with 100,000 or more employed nationally and 40 or more states with at least 1,000 employed and a published annual median. We computed the leader two ways, from a full extract and from filtered queries per occupation, and both gave 142 occupations, 62 with a different leader, 80 with the same one and 9 falling to 10th or lower. The wage year (May 2025) and price year (2024) differ, and we did not adjust for that.