Best Cities for Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicianss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicianss get the most value from their salary after accounting for cost of living. A score above 1.00 means better than national average.

How we calculate this: City Score = (Local Salary ÷ National Median) ÷ (Local Cost ÷ National Avg Cost). A score of 1.20 means 20% better purchasing power than average.

#	Location	Score	Raw Salary	Adjusted Salary	Rent/Income
1	WashingtonState	1.41	$125,160	$116,645	18%
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WAMetro	1.32	$125,160	$109,501	21%
3	NevadaState	1.24	$102,980	$102,774	17%
4	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TXMetro	1.23	$98,800	$101,646	19%
5	AlaskaState	1.22	$105,780	$101,419	15%
6	ColoradoState	1.13	$98,990	$93,918	22%
7	CaliforniaState	1.08	$99,000	$89,431	27%
8	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TXMetro	1.07	$81,820	$88,935	19%
9	OhioState	1.06	$79,310	$87,732	16%
10	KansasState	1.05	$78,350	$87,056	16%
11	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAMetro	1.02	$98,940	$84,927	27%
12	MarylandState	1.01	$91,820	$84,084	22%
13	TexasState	0.99	$78,350	$81,956	21%
14	OregonState	0.95	$81,100	$78,738	24%
15	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MDMetro	0.95	$83,260	$78,696	24%
16	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WIMetro	0.95	$78,080	$78,472	23%
17	VirginiaState	0.94	$81,040	$78,300	23%
18	FloridaState	0.93	$78,560	$77,399	26%
19	UtahState	0.92	$76,680	$76,527	23%
20	MichiganState	0.91	$69,840	$75,666	19%
21	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WAMetro	0.91	$81,100	$75,232	27%
22	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVMetro	0.91	$85,320	$75,638	28%
23	ArizonaState	0.90	$75,230	$74,559	24%
24	ConnecticutState	0.89	$79,410	$73,801	24%
25	MassachusettsState	0.88	$79,420	$73,198	34%
26	MinnesotaState	0.88	$71,240	$72,694	22%
27	New MexicoState	0.87	$66,460	$72,239	19%
28	AlabamaState	0.86	$62,130	$71,332	19%
29	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NHMetro	0.84	$79,420	$69,974	39%
30	IndianaState	0.83	$62,520	$69,083	20%
31	PennsylvaniaState	0.76	$60,770	$62,649	26%
32	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FLMetro	0.74	$66,220	$61,032	37%
33	New YorkState	0.69	$64,480	$57,316	34%
34	OklahomaState	0.62	$45,590	$51,514	25%

Data Sources: Salary: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS). Cost of Living: BEA Regional Price Parities (2024). Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2025).