Home / Foundry Mold and Coremakers / Best Cities Best Cities for Foundry Mold and Coremakerss Cities ranked by purchasing power — where foundry mold and coremakerss 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 Missouri State 1.44 $61,480 $69,391 20% 2 Oregon State 1.35 $67,060 $65,107 29% 3 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metro 1.29 $67,060 $62,208 32% 4 Alabama State 1.22 $51,040 $58,599 23% 5 Illinois State 1.22 $57,110 $58,634 28% 6 Minnesota State 1.21 $56,840 $58,000 27% 7 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro 1.20 $57,630 $57,920 31% 8 Indiana State 1.15 $49,860 $55,094 25% 9 Iowa State 1.14 $49,060 $55,000 23% 10 Ohio State 1.13 $49,040 $54,248 26% 11 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro 1.13 $52,010 $54,290 35% 12 Kansas State 1.11 $47,910 $53,233 26% 13 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro 1.09 $54,080 $52,251 35% 14 Massachusetts State 1.07 $55,940 $51,558 48% 15 Pittsburgh, PA Metro 1.07 $47,550 $51,405 30% 16 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro 1.06 $58,090 $50,822 45% 17 New Jersey State 1.05 $55,210 $50,744 39% 18 Michigan State 1.04 $46,150 $50,000 29% 19 Nebraska State 1.04 $45,910 $50,175 27% 20 Columbus, OH Metro 1.04 $46,970 $50,235 33% 21 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metro 1.04 $45,610 $50,011 32% 22 Georgia State 1.03 $46,220 $49,486 37% 23 North Carolina State 1.03 $46,910 $49,693 33% 24 Arkansas State 1.02 $42,200 $48,899 25% 25 Kentucky State 1.02 $43,610 $49,277 26% 26 Oklahoma State 1.02 $43,550 $49,209 27% 27 New York State 1.00 $54,380 $48,338 41% 28 Wisconsin State 0.99 $44,130 $47,811 30% 29 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro 0.99 $46,110 $47,438 41% 30 Mississippi State 0.97 $39,560 $46,651 27% 31 Pennsylvania State 0.96 $44,750 $46,134 35% 32 Washington State 0.94 $48,440 $45,144 47% 33 South Carolina State 0.93 $41,100 $44,674 37% 34 Utah State 0.93 $44,970 $44,880 40% 35 Texas State 0.92 $42,190 $44,132 39% 36 Connecticut State 0.91 $47,310 $43,968 40% 37 California State 0.88 $46,930 $42,394 58% 38 Virginia State 0.87 $43,130 $41,671 44% 39 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro 0.87 $47,520 $41,868 65% 40 New Hampshire State 0.85 $43,210 $40,764 44% 41 Tennessee State 0.85 $37,310 $40,776 40% 42 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro 0.85 $47,440 $40,721 57% 43 Colorado State 0.83 $42,240 $40,076 52% 44 Florida State 0.78 $38,330 $37,764 54%
Data Sources: Salary: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS). Cost of Living: BEA Regional Price Parities (2024). Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2025).