Best Cities for Agricultural Workers, All Others

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where agricultural workers, all others 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	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAMetro	1.22	$56,840	$48,790	48%
2	OhioState	1.21	$43,540	$48,164	29%
3	CaliforniaState	1.20	$53,090	$47,958	51%
4	North CarolinaState	1.16	$43,790	$46,388	36%
5	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SCMetro	1.14	$43,600	$45,511	41%
6	IowaState	1.13	$40,130	$44,989	28%
7	KentuckyState	1.13	$39,970	$45,164	29%
8	MontanaState	1.10	$42,130	$43,703	32%
9	ArizonaState	1.08	$43,350	$42,963	41%
10	GeorgiaState	1.06	$39,310	$42,088	43%
11	HawaiiState	1.06	$46,650	$42,409	61%
12	LouisianaState	1.06	$38,160	$42,353	33%
13	TexasState	1.04	$39,570	$41,391	42%
14	WashingtonState	1.03	$43,930	$40,941	52%
15	WisconsinState	1.03	$37,720	$40,867	35%
16	IdahoState	1.01	$38,790	$40,197	37%
17	OklahomaState	1.00	$35,140	$39,706	33%
18	ArkansasState	0.97	$33,490	$38,806	31%
19	OregonState	0.95	$38,930	$37,796	49%
20	TennesseeState	0.91	$33,080	$36,153	46%
21	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVMetro	0.89	$40,220	$35,656	60%
22	MarylandState	0.87	$37,680	$34,505	53%
23	PennsylvaniaState	0.87	$33,570	$34,608	46%
24	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MDMetro	0.87	$36,680	$34,669	55%
25	FloridaState	0.82	$33,280	$32,788	62%
26	MichiganState	0.79	$28,950	$31,365	46%
27	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TNMetro	0.76	$29,090	$30,239	64%
28	West VirginiaState	0.74	$24,960	$29,644	40%

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