Best Cities for Emergency Medicine Physicianss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where emergency medicine physicianss 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	West VirginiaState	1.74	$491,230	$583,409	2%
2	MissouriState	1.53	$456,280	$514,989	3%
3	Rhode IslandState	1.52	$512,730	$510,179	4%
4	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MIMetro	1.46	$447,750	$490,954	3%
5	IowaState	1.43	$429,050	$480,998	3%
6	MichiganState	1.35	$417,760	$452,611	3%
7	New MexicoState	1.31	$405,130	$440,359	3%
8	AlaskaState	1.29	$452,620	$433,960	4%
9	South DakotaState	1.29	$393,870	$433,778	3%
10	North DakotaState	1.26	$392,890	$424,287	3%
11	VermontState	1.25	$430,820	$420,312	4%
12	OhioState	1.24	$377,480	$417,566	3%
13	MarylandState	1.23	$451,620	$413,571	4%
14	NebraskaState	1.21	$371,880	$406,426	3%
15	MinnesotaState	1.19	$390,940	$398,918	4%
16	OklahomaState	1.17	$348,540	$393,831	3%
17	ConnecticutState	1.16	$418,940	$389,349	4%
18	IndianaState	1.14	$347,060	$383,492	4%
19	South CarolinaState	1.11	$341,960	$371,696	4%
20	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WIMetro	1.10	$367,120	$368,965	5%
21	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MDMetro	1.10	$380,800	$367,923	5%
22	North CarolinaState	1.07	$339,350	$359,481	5%
23	WashingtonState	1.06	$380,870	$354,958	6%
24	Columbus, OHMetro	1.06	$331,600	$354,652	5%
25	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TXMetro	1.03	$316,830	$344,380	5%
26	TexasState	0.99	$316,830	$331,412	5%
27	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TXMetro	0.99	$324,210	$333,549	6%
28	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WAMetro	0.99	$380,870	$333,220	7%
29	MassachusettsState	0.98	$356,230	$328,323	8%
30	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MDMetro	0.97	$344,170	$325,302	6%
31	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NHMetro	0.94	$356,230	$313,859	9%
32	MississippiState	0.89	$252,960	$298,302	4%
33	New JerseyState	0.86	$315,340	$289,835	7%
34	District of ColumbiaState	0.83	$318,200	$278,390	8%
35	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GAMetro	0.81	$263,810	$272,531	7%
36	New YorkState	0.80	$301,690	$268,169	7%
37	GeorgiaState	0.70	$219,010	$234,486	8%
38	IdahoState	0.68	$221,430	$229,461	6%
39	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SCMetro	0.61	$195,770	$204,353	9%
40	FloridaState	0.60	$204,990	$201,961	10%
41	KentuckyState	0.57	$169,390	$191,401	7%
42	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FLMetro	0.56	$204,990	$188,931	12%
43	UtahState	0.42	$140,370	$140,090	13%

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