If you live in one of these cities, you’re probably happy with your salary

By Meredith Lepore

The job market continues to be strong as we approach mid-March. According to the latest jobs report, in February the U.S. added 313,000 jobs, the most since July 2016 across low-, middle-, and high-wage industries. Be sure to check out Ladders’ list of companies hiring for the highest paying jobs as of March, 2018. The jobless rate also remains at its lowest point in a whopping 17 years. In other words, the economy is strong.

Hopefully, you are one of those lucky people who not only has a job but also feels that they are being properly compensated for their work. However, if you don’t feel satisfied with your salary it could be because of where you live. Employment review and research site kununu ran a study based on 69,378 reviews done in 2017 for companies located in the largest U.S. cities.

The study asked employees whether they felt fairly compensated for their work to determine the 50 cities with the highest and lowest satisfaction rates. To give you some comparison, the average national annual pay for 2016 was $53,621, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So which city came out on top? Check out the list below.

Washington, DC ($68,000)
Minneapolis, MN ($55,010)
Seattle, WA ($61,170)
San Francisco, CA ($69,110)
Columbus, OH ($48,850)
Boston, MA ($64,080)
Sacramento, CA ($54,690)
Omaha, NE ($46,490)
New York, NY ($61,790)
Los Angeles, CA ($55,650)

High-wage industries fuel happiness

Washington D.C. coming out on top isn’t too surprising, as the high-paying tech sector is strong in our nation’s capital. Last month, we learned that women working in tech in D.C. are actually beating the national pay gap with their salaries.

Minneapolis workers may be especially satisfied with their average salary of $55,000 because unlike other cities like New York and Los Angeles, half of their salary isn’t spent on rent.

“Some of these cities are dominated by high wage industries like tech and finance – and therefore tend to receive high ratings in salary satisfaction too,” said Johannes Prüller, of Kununu, in a statement. “However, as our salary satisfaction index shows, you shouldn’t preclude midsize cities when searching for a new job.”

Some of the lower ranking cities tended to be dominated by industries that just aren’t as lucrative such as tourism and agriculture. San Antonio, TX; Las Vegas, NV; and Albuquerque, NM were ranked in the last three spots for salary satisfaction with averages between $43,000 and $46,000.

Money does help with happiness when it comes to liking where you live (and so do some other things) but when it comes to being satisfied with your job, salary is not the most important factor.

A strong work culture with good teamwork and gender equality, employee autonomy and challenging work tasks all ranked higher than compensation.

Originally published at www.theladders.com