U.S. News: How Boston Ranks Among America's Best-Paying Cities

California cities dominate when it comes to the top-paying jobs in the United States, but Boston made the Top 20, according to a new set of rankings from U.S. News & World Report. Three of the top five cities are in California while two cities in the Northeast -- New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut -- take the third and fourth spots.

The rankings were released along with U.S. News’ annual list of the 100 best jobs and the list for best paying jobs in 2019.

To compile the best-paying cities list, U.S. News uses its 100 best jobs list. For each job, the publication prepares the top five best-paying cities using annual mean salary figures from The Bureau of Labor Statistics. After that, U.S. News tallies which cities have the most jobs associated to them.

Below is U.S. News’ full list of the top-paying cities for jobs:

• San Francisco
• San Jose, California
• New York, New York
• Bridgeport, Connecticut
• Oakland, California
• San Rafael, California
• Nassau County, New York
• Fairbanks, Alaska
• Washington, District of Columbia
• Salinas, California
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Newark, New Jersey
• Vallejo, California
• Silver Spring, Maryland
• Urban Honolulu, Hawaii
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Seattle, Washington
• Kahului, Hawaii
• Oxnard, California
• Sacramento, California

U.S. News executive editor Kim Castro says wages aren’t the only thing working in employees’ favor in 2019.

“To lure and retain workers, companies are also boosting the benefits they provide, offering flexible hours and remote work opportunities while investing in individuals’ personal and professional development – all reasons why software developer continues to top the Best Jobs list,” Castro said in a press release. “Organizations are focused more on hiring workers who they can train rather than finding the ‘perfect candidate,’ giving more room for gig workers and freelancers.”

According to U.S. News, the top 10 jobs on its 100 best list are:

Software Developer (1)
Statistician (2)
Physician Assistant (3)
Dentist (4)
Orthodontist (5)
Nurse Anesthetist (5)
Nurse Practitioner (7)
Pediatrician (8)
Obstetrician and Gynecologist (9)
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon (9)
Prosthodontist (9)
Physician (9)

You can see the full list of top 100 jobs here.

The list of the top 100 jobs is created by scoring seven components on a scale of 0 to 10. The measures include median salary, work-life balance, stress level and employment rate. (You can see the full methodology here.)

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