Which Part of the Country Has the Highest Pay?

by Michael Roennevig

One way to maximize your earnings is to move to a part of the country where pay is highest. In the U.S., the highest-paying part of the country is the East Coast, mostly the Northeast, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Be warned, though, that higher wages are often linked to higher costs of living, so any extra earnings you manage to pull in could soon be eaten up.

District of Columbia

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' quarterly census of employment and wages data for 2012, the highest-earning workers in the U.S. lived in the District of Columbia. They earned an average annual salary of $76,418, or $1,470 a week. The average mean wage across all occupations was $49,200. Surgeons and anesthesiologists were the best-paid workers in the region as of May 2012, taking home $247,160 and $243,800 respectively.

New York

Workers in New York were the second-best-paid in the U.S. in 2012, according to the BLS, earning a typical income of $63,913 a year, or $1,229 a week. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons and anesthesiologists were the highest-earning workers in the state, as of May 2012, enjoying annual mean incomes of $249,810 and $215,350 respectively.


Connecticut's 1.39 million workers typically took home $63,248 a year, or $1,216 a week in 2012, according to BLS figures. Continuing a pattern that saw doctors come out on top pay-wise across the country, surgeons and obstetricians and gynecologists were Connecticut's highest-paid professionals in May of that year. They took home average pay of $235,380 and $218,850 respectively, more than four times the average national wage across all occupations.


The typical worker plying her trade in Massachusetts took home an average annual wage of $61,471 in 2012. This worked out to $1,182 a week, making the Bay State's workers the third-best paid in the country, according to the BLS. As of May 2012, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, and obstetricians and gynecologists were the best-paid workers in Massachusetts, enjoying average salaries of $230,370 and $209,300 respectively.


Just because wages in a particular area are generally high, it won't necessarily have an impact on your earning potential. If you want to get a feel for what you'd be paid in a certain location, look up wage data information for your profession on the BLS website.

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