Wage growth by metro.
Which cities are paying more this year. Which are stagnating.
81 U.S. metros. Tech, AI, and engineering roles. Updated quarterly.
Top 20 metros by wage growth
Average year-over-year growth across a basket of tech, AI, and engineering roles. Useful if you're deciding where to move or negotiate from.
- #1Omaha, NE+5.4%
- #2Des Moines, IA+5.4%
- #3Austin, TX+5.3%
- #4Denver, CO+5.3%
- #5Detroit, MI+5.3%
- #6St. Louis, MO+5.3%
- #7Hartford, CT+5.3%
- #8Wilmington, DE+5.3%
- #9Albuquerque, NM+5.3%
- #10Cincinnati, OH+5.3%
- #11Baton Rouge, LA+5.3%
- #12Columbia, SC+5.3%
- #13Knoxville, TN+5.3%
- #14New York, NY+5.3%
- #15San Francisco, CA+5.3%
- #16Los Angeles, CA+5.3%
- #17Seattle, WA+5.3%
- #18Boston, MA+5.3%
- #19Dallas, TX+5.3%
- #20Atlanta, GA+5.3%
Top 10 AI metros
AI and ML roles only.
- #1Little Rock, AR+8.3%
- #2New York, NY+8.2%
- #3San Francisco, CA+8.2%
- #4Los Angeles, CA+8.2%
- #5Chicago, IL+8.2%
- #6Seattle, WA+8.2%
- #7Austin, TX+8.2%
- #8Boston, MA+8.2%
- #9Denver, CO+8.2%
- #10Dallas, TX+8.2%
Top 10 Tech metros
Engineering and software roles.
- #1New York, NY+4.0%
- #2San Francisco, CA+4.0%
- #3Los Angeles, CA+4.0%
- #4Chicago, IL+4.0%
- #5Seattle, WA+4.0%
- #6Austin, TX+4.0%
- #7Boston, MA+4.0%
- #8Denver, CO+4.0%
- #9Dallas, TX+4.0%
- #10Atlanta, GA+4.0%
Where growth is slowest
Metros where wages are flat or growing below the national average. A signal to negotiate remote, not relocate.
- #1Sioux Falls, SD+5.0%
- #2Charlotte, NC+5.1%
- #3Fargo, ND+5.1%
- #4Oklahoma City, OK+5.1%
- #5Cheyenne, WY+5.1%
- #6Lexington, KY+5.1%
- #7Chicago, IL+5.2%
- #8Houston, TX+5.2%
- #9Raleigh, NC+5.2%
- #10Little Rock, AR+5.2%
How we calculate growth
Each metro's growth rate is the mean year-over-year change across a basket of 12 representative tech, AI, and engineering roles, computed from Orbyt's 2025 to 2026 modeled salary data.
Growth figures are directional. Confidence depends on metro coverage. San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Boston have high confidence. Emerging metros have lower confidence and wider error bars. See the methodology page for sample sizes and intervals per metro.
Sources: BLS OES (annual), DOL H-1B LCAs (quarterly), job posting scrapes (continuous), and Orbyt CRM salary submissions.