Orange County Makes List for Top STEM Pay in Nation

The top metro area for STEM pay in the U.S. is, of course……Bethesda, Maryland?!

While the Bay Area dominated the Top 5, taking three of the spots, it was edged out for No. 1 by Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick in Maryland, according to an analysis conducted by SmartAsset. Located just outside Washington, D.C., top STEM employers include the National Institute of Health and Lockheed-Martin. Paychecks average $100,787.

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Also on the list at No. 7 is Orange County. SmartAsset heaped praise on us, “Orange County, which encompasses the cities of Santa Ana, Anaheim and Irvine, sits just to the south of Los Angeles, and in recent years has emerged as a hub for high technology companies in Southern California. Irvine has long been a destination for STEM workers and companies alike, thanks to the presence of UC-Irvine, one of the top public research universities in the world.”

The top three STEM jobs by pay in the Orange County area: postsecondary atmospheric, earth, marine and space science teacher ($133,970 per year), aerospace engineer ($116,910), physicist ($115,320).

San Francisco, which includes San Mateo and Redwood City, came in second. The average STEM paycheck is $100K, with chemical engineer drawing top dollar at $128,550. Credit the biotech companies for those jobs.

Washington, D.C is No. 3 on the list. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, NASA, U.S. Naval Observatory, and Northrop Grumman are the major STEM employers.

Looking for a job as a nuclear engineer? The East Bay is the place to be. Salaries average $132,950 per year. Overall, STEM jobs in the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward area average $95,032.

And rounding out the Top 5 is San Jose, traditionally known to the rest of the world as Silicon Valley. The average STEM job pays $94,609, with the top three: statistician ($134,440 per year), computer hardware engineer ($133,660), and software developer – systems ($130,790).

Los Angeles and Sacramento also made the Top 12.

The national average for a STEM job isn’t bad: $82,832.

The Best Cities for Pay in STEM:

1. Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Maryland $100,787

2. San Francisco, California $100,324

3. Washington, D.C. $98,618

4. Oakland, CA $95,032

5. San Jose, CA $94,609

6. Edison-New Brunswick, New Jersey $93,995

7. Orange County, California $93,437

8. Newark, New Jersey $93,075

9. Los Angeles, California $91,358

10. Boston, Massachusetts $91,151

11. New York, New York $90,573

12. Sacramento, California $89,739

--Photo via Shutterstock