US News: How NC Ranks Among Best-Paying Cities For Jobs

CHARLOTTE, NC — Twenty-one cities in the United States are considered among the best for those looking for a well-paying job, according to a new U.S. News ranking.

While Charlotte didn’t make the top 21 ranked cities, it was among more than 220 included by U.S. News on the full list of Best Paying Cities for jobs.

According to the list, the best paying jobs in the Queen City region were a podiatrist, with an average annual salary of $256,950 and a nurse midwife, with an annual salary of $122,400.

In addition to Charlotte, seven other North Carolina cities made the list for well-paying jobs: Durham

• Epidemiologist. Medical Scientist — $110,200
• Survey Researcher — $90,970
• Credit Counselor — $69,600
• Sound Engineering Technician — $63,990
• Community Health Worker — $62,050

Raleigh

• Survey Researcher — $79,160
• Credit Counselor — $67,660
• Statistician — $111,180

Fayetteville

• Marriage and Family Therapist — $77,150

Greenville

• Surgeon — $289,460

Burlington

• Sales Representative — $95,250

Winston-Salem

• Operations Research Analyst — $112,590

Greensboro

• Orthotist and Prosthetist — $91,010

U.S. News compiled the list of cities with the best-paying jobs by examining the annual mean salary of each job included on its 2020 Best Jobs Rankings, then tallied which cities had the most available positions associated with top-paying jobs nationwide.

The best-paying city on this year’s list was San Francisco, California, with 77 available positions related to this year’s Best-Paying Jobs. San Francisco was followed by San Jose, California, and New York City. Wichita Falls, Texas, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, were at the bottom of the list.

Here are the 21 cities that rank in the top five most frequently:
1) San Francisco, California - 77 jobs
2) San Jose, California - 64 jobs
3) New York, New York - 43
4) Bridgeport, Connecticut - 29
5) Seattle, Washington - 27
6) Vallejo, California - 23
7) Washington, D.C. - 22
8) Salinas, California - 21
9) Chicago, Illinois - 18
10) Anchorage, Alaska - 17
11) Oxnard, California - 16 (tie)
11) Sacramento, California - 16 (tie)
13) Boston, Massachusetts - 15 (tie)
13) Santa Rosa, California - 15 (tie)
15) Houston, Texas - 14 (tie)
15) Urban Honolulu, Hawaii - 14 (tie)
17) Napa, California - 13
18) Trenton, New Jersey - 12 (tie)
18) Los Angeles, California - 12 (tie)
20) Boulder, Colorado - 11 (tie)
20) Kahului, Hawaii - 11 (tie)

The top five best-paying jobs of 2020, according to the new study, are anesthesiologist, surgeon, oral and maxillofacial surgeon, obstetrician and gynecologist, and orthodontist. Salaries were taken from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Along with the best-paying cities, U.S. News also released its 2020 Best Jobs Rankings. Among this year’s best jobs are software developer at No. 1, followed by dentist, physician assistant, orthodontist and nurse practitioner.

To calculate this year’s best jobs, U.S. News collected data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to identify jobs with the greatest hiring demand. Jobs are then scored using seven component measures: 10-year growth volume, 10-year growth percentage, median salary, employment rate, future job prospects, stress level and work-life balance. For further details on how the rankings were calculated, see the methodology.

For people who want to dive into the workforce after high school, U.S. News also calculated the best jobs without a college degree. Home health aid ranks No. 1, followed by medical assistant and medical records technician. A majority of the jobs in this list’s top 10 are health care support positions.