Highest Paying Locations in the US

[REWahoo]

Money.com ranks the 50 largest counties in the US and the average annual payroll per employee. Surprising that two counties from CA rank 49th and 50th, even below pay in TX counties. Are San Bernadino and Riverside participating in the housing bubble?

REW

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/08/news/economy/Best_paying_counties/index.htm

BEST PAYING COUNTIES
The nation's largest counties and payroll per employee

1 New York, NY $73,032
2 Santa Clara, CA $63,704
3 Fairfield, CT $57,940
4 San Francisco, CA $55,737
5 Fairfax, VA $53,214
6 King, WA $49,432
7 Middlesex, MA $49,006
8 Westchester, NY $48,235
9 Fulton, GA $47,583
10 Bergen, NJ $47,136
11 Montgomery, MD $46,290
12 Alameda, CA $45,665
13 Montgomery, PA $45,607
14 Oakland, MI $45,376
15 Hennepin, MN $45,282
16 Dallas, TX $44,158
17 Cook, IL $43,371
18 Du Page, IL $41,952
19 Wayne, MI $41,607
20 Harris, TX $41,194 (Houston)
21 Orange, CA $40,367
22 Mecklenburg, NC $40,363
23 Philadelphia, PA $39,762
24 Nassau, NY $39,761
25 Los Angeles, CA $38,715

26 Marion, IN $38,384
27 Travis, TX $38,309 (Austin)
28 Suffolk, NY $37,788
29 San Diego, CA $37,666
30 Cuyahoga, OH $37,575
31 Hamilton, OH $37,401
32 St. Louis, MO $37,098
33 Allegheny, PA $37,074
34 Hillsborough, FL $36,733
35 Tarrant, TX $36,242 (Ft. Worth)
36 Queens, NY $36,050
37 Franklin, OH $35,835
38 Sacramento, CA $35,597
39 Palm Beach, FL $34,935
40 Maricopa, AZ $34,655
41 Miami-Dade, FL $33,460
42 Salt Lake, UT $33,438
43 Broward, FL $33,034
44 Kings, NY $32,407
45 Clark, NV $32,009
46 Orange, FL $31,586
47 Pinellas, FL $31,392
48 Bexar, TX $30,462 (San Antonio)
49 San Bernardino, CA $30,324
50 Riverside, CA $28,809

 

[Dreamer]

I have a nephew that is a Fairfax Co, VA police officer. He carpools with 3 other officers approximately 1 hr to work. He can't afford to live in Fairfax Co. since housing is so expensive.

Dreamer

 

[Brat]

Is this the mean (average) or the median? Notice that 45-50 are communities not far from the Mexican border.

 

[Cut-Throat]

There are Higher paid counties in the U.S. - This one just lists the Largest counties by population.

 

[sgeeeee]

I'm not sure what this means. Maricopa County in Arizona is huge. It includes Phoenix, but also includes a large area of irrigated agriculture land in the dessert, large areas of Reservations, etc. Average salary ranks 40, but I'll bet the salary beta is high.

 

[wildcat]

Reading the "rankings" by Money and Forbes.......tisk tisk :

 

[Nords]

I'm not looking for a job, but here's the text of a related article:

LATEST NEWS
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 4:54 AM HST Tuesday

Hawaii bartenders make the most

Hawaii has the 18th highest annual mean wage of the 50 states, in part because some lower-paying occupations pay better in Hawaii than on the Mainland.

In these occupations Hawaii leads the nation on wages: bartenders, waiters, dining room attendants, hotel desks clerks, short order cooks and laundry and dry-cleaning workers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a new state-by-state breakdown, says Hawaii has an annual mean wage of $36,300. While higher than more than half the states it is actually lower than the national average of $37,020.

That comes in between Massachusetts, which leads all states with a mean wage of $44,640, and Mississippi, which sits at the bottom with $28,180. East Coast states occupy many of the top slots, but California places fifth with $41,510 while Washington state is eighth at $40,430.

But for these occupations the annual mean wage is higher in Hawaii than in any other state:
- Bartenders: $27,440, well ahead of Alaska, Massachusetts and Nevada. Hawaii employs 3,060 bartenders.
- Waiters: $22,600, just ahead of Massachusetts, New York and Washington state. There are 15,550 waiters and waitresses in Hawaii.
- Dining room attendants: $20,370, ahead of Alaska, Massachusetts and Connecticut. There are 4,370 dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Hawaii.
- Hotel desk clerks: $30,410, far above New York, Nevada and Massachusetts. There are 1,860 hotel desk clerks in Hawaii.
- Short order cooks: $24,040, ahead of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Alaska. There are 930 short order cooks employed in Hawaii.
- Laundry and dry-cleaning workers: $22,810, ahead of Colorado, Minnesota and Connecticut. There are 1,770 of these jobs in Hawaii.

The raw data from which these figures were calculated was gathered in the spring of 2004. Wages have risen in Hawaii since then.

 

[Brat]

And most have health insurance!

 

[Momtwo]

I'm not sure what this means.  Maricopa County in Arizona is huge.  It includes Phoenix, but also includes a large area of irrigated agriculture land in the dessert, large areas of Reservations, etc.  Average salary ranks 40, but I'll bet the salary beta is high.   

And lets not forget that the figure includes a lot of minimum wage jobs(and yes, AZ goes by the Federal Minimum wage) in retail. There is a lot of retail to support the millions of people who live here. There are gas stations and drugstores and strip malls on every corner.