Nationally, less than 7% of the jobs people go to day in and day out have salaries of $100,000 or more. In the San Jose/Sunnyville/Santa Clara part of California, the average is more than 28%.
The Silicon Valley tops a list of the cities with the most six-figure incomes. (Software company Volusion compiled the list using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
Given the area’s reputation as a tech hub, that ranking is not especially surprising. Six-figure employment percentages have been roughly the same in that metro area since 2015. But other cities on the list saw notable spikes between 2015 and 2018.
The Washington D.C. Area, for instance, which ranked second on the list with 20.9% of the jobs in the six-figure range, saw the number of high-paying gigs surge nearly 38% in that time frame. And the Sacramento, Calif. Area (number 8 on the list) saw a 73% improvement.
In terms of job titles, general and operations managers have the biggest number of six-figure occupations, by far (with 2.3 million people in those roles earning top salaries). Software developers, lawyers and financial managers follow (all with less than 1 million people earning that amount).
Beyond the list focusing on the 10 large metro areas, Volusion also looked at the top small- and mid-sized cities with the most six-figure jobs. Among small towns, California-Lexington Park, Md., Boulder, Colo. And Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif were the top three.
Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk, Conn., Huntsville, Ala. And Durham-Chapel Hill N.C. Were the top three mid-sized cities.
As for the top 10 metro areas, here’s how things shook out (and their total percentage of six-figure jobs).
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif – 28.2%
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-W.Va. – 20.9%
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif – 20.9%
- Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Mass-N.H. – 14%
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash – 13.1%
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. – 12.6%
- Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn. – 11.1%
- Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade, Calif. – 10.8%
- San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif. – 10.2%
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif. – 10.1%
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