Best Cities for Animal Scientistss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where animal scientistss 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	TexasState	2.02	$132,830	$138,944	13%
2	WisconsinState	1.32	$84,310	$91,343	15%
3	MinnesotaState	1.31	$88,640	$90,449	17%
4	KansasState	1.29	$80,090	$88,989	16%
5	South DakotaState	1.23	$77,300	$85,132	15%
6	IowaState	1.22	$75,290	$84,406	15%
7	PennsylvaniaState	1.16	$77,660	$80,062	20%
8	North DakotaState	1.13	$72,100	$77,862	16%
9	WashingtonState	1.12	$83,160	$77,502	27%
10	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WIMetro	1.12	$76,530	$76,915	23%
11	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MDMetro	1.09	$77,880	$75,246	25%
12	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVMetro	1.06	$82,810	$73,413	29%
13	MarylandState	1.03	$77,750	$71,200	26%
14	Kansas City, MO-KSMetro	0.99	$63,300	$68,211	24%
15	MichiganState	0.94	$60,010	$65,016	22%
16	NebraskaState	0.88	$55,300	$60,437	23%
17	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MDMetro	0.87	$63,740	$60,246	32%
18	IllinoisState	0.71	$47,930	$49,209	33%

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