CT Boasts 2 of Nation’s Top 10 “Biggest Paycheck” Metro Regions
/
The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford metro area is #7 on the Forbes list of cities where people earn the biggest paychecks. And the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk has earned an even higher slot in the top ten, at #4.
To identify the best-paying cities for jobs, Forbes turned to PayScale.com. Their experts looked at compensation data for professionals in the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (based on 2010 population estimates by the Census), and identified the median pay for workers who hold at least a bachelor’s degree, across three experience levels: starting (5 or less years of experience), mid-career (10 or more years of experience) and overall (all years of experience).
The top three cities
, according to Payscale economist Katie Bardaro, “are dominated by high wage industries like tech (both IT and Biotech), finance or oil.” (Metro San Jose, San Francisco and Houston.) Unlike the top three, number 4 is dominated by the finance industry.
“There are a number of Fortune 500 corporate headquarters in this metropolitan area,” she says of the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metro area. “In fact, it is one of the largest financial districts in the Northeast.”
The median overall pay for 
workers there is $71,800 annually, while average starting pay is $55,500 and mid-career is $96,900 a year, on average, the magazine reported. Coming in at #7, the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford metro area has overall median pay of $69,200; starting median pay of $53,000; and mid-career median pay of $92,000.
Connecticut and California are the only states to have more than one metropolitan area in the top 10 – California regions finished at #1, #2, and #
10.
The overall median income for all college educated professionals across the U.S. is $61,900 a year, according to PayScale. The mean starting salary is $49,200, while the average mid-career pay is $84,800.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Penn., area - the worst-paying city in the U.S. Here are the top 10, as identified by PayScale and Forbes:
1 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
Overall median pay: $99,600 Starting median pay: $73,300 Mid-career median pay: $133,000
2 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.
Overall median pay: $79,000
Starting median pay: $60,400
Mid-career median pay: $114,000
3 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas
Overall median pay: $71,900
Starting median pay: $56,400
Mid-career median pay: $99,000
4 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.
Overall median pay: $71,800
Starting median pay: $55,500
Mid-career median pay: $96,900
No. 5 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.
Overall median pay: $71,200
Starting median pay: $53,900
Mid-career median pay: $99,000
6 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.V.
Overall median pay: $70,200
Starting median pay: $54,800
Mid-career median pay: $104,000
7 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn.
Overall median pay: $69,200
Starting median pay: $53,000
Mid-career median pay: $92,000
8 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H.
Overall median pay: $68,900
Starting median pay: $53,300
Mid-career median pay: $99,600
9 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.
Overall median pay: $68,800
Starting median pay: $52,900
Mid-career median pay: $101,000
10 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.
Overall median pay: $67,900
Starting median pay: $51,700
Mid-career median pay: $96,500
