The city of San Francisco has the largest share of jobs that pay more than $500,000 a year – ‘vastly outranking’ any other major city in the US.
A study conducted by ADP Research last month analyzed hundreds of millions of payroll records for the year. Specifically, it looked at metro regions that are home to more than a million people and adjusted the data to the full population.
The research found that one in every 48 jobs within the San Francisco Bay Area pay $500,000 or more to their employees – nearly double than that of Austin, Texas, which came in second.
A key explanation for the extraordinary figures is the state’s dominant tech industry, in which top engineers and executives earn ‘extraordinary compensation’.
‘The Bay Area’s considerable lead likely reflects not just the dominance of tech in its economy and workforce, but also its position as the nucleus for the industry’s top talent and the corporate giants that rely most heavily on their expertise,’ the report stated.
The study, which was titled ‘High-paying jobs? They’re a dime a dozen’, found that more than one million people in the United States earn exceptionally high salaries.
One in every 127 jobs in the country paid more than $500,000 a year – a total of more than 1 million workers.
Despite certain regions standing out in the data due to the sheer volume of workers pulling in the income, the Bay Area outranked every other metro area in terms of high-paying jobs at every level.
A recent study found that the Bay Area of San Francisco in California has the largest share of jobs that pay more than $500,000 a year – ‘vastly outranking’ any other major city in the US
The research found that one in every 48 jobs within the San Francisco Bay Area pay $500,000 or more to their employees – nearly double than that of Austin, Texas , which came in second
A key explanation attributing to the extraordinary figures is the state’s dominant tech industry, in which top engineers and executives earn ‘extraordinary compensation’
The national average of jobs that pay more than one million a year is one in every 455 – a large difference from San Francisco, where one in every 185 jobs were found to pay that figure.
The Bay Area also came out on top when the salary was doubled to two million a year.
One in every 1,429 people earned two million a year on a national level, while one in every 667 salaries in the Bay Area alone were found to reach that sum.
Naples, Austin, New York and Boston all tied for the second highest region with one in every 1,000 workers making two million a year.
The Bay Area is home to some of Silicon Valley’s largest tech companies, including Apple, Google, Meta, Adobe and eBay.
Austin, Texas – which came in second place according to the data – is another tech-heavy city.
Some of the world’s leading tech firms – such as Dell, IBM and Apple, have developed major operations in the area.
New York City landed in third place – combining a powerful tech presence with its role as the world’s leading financial center.
The Bay Area is home to some of Silicon Valley’s largest tech companies, including Apple (headquarters pictured), Google, Meta, Adobe and eBay
Austin, Texas – which came in second place according to the data – is another city that holds some of the world’s leading tech firms, including Dell, IBM and Apple
New York City landed in third place – combining a powerful tech presence with its role as the world’s leading financial center, most notably on Wall Street
High housing costs and the rise of remote work in the Bay Area were two other unique factors discovered to impact the state directly – allowing room for more high earners that accounted for a large share of the population
The Bay Area also serves as the center for the industry’s top talent and the corporate giants that rely heavily on their expertise in the tech world.
But two other unique factors were discovered to impact the area directly – high housing costs and the rise of remote work.
Skyrocketing prices in the last few decades have ultimately squeezed out low and middle-income residents – discouraging potential newcomers from buying a home which led to high earners accounting for a large share of the population.
The practice of remote work – which became a highly sought after way to complete career tasks during the pandemic – also played a part in hollowing out the middle and low-income residents.
Working-from-home attracted even more high earners to the area who were looking for another desirable location to do their job.
But high earners are not only confined to one industry or region. There are a substantial number of high-paying positions across every major US metro area.
Though tech is at the forefront, New York’s finance industry, Boston’s healthcare industry and Houston’s energy industry also account for a large number of high salaries.
