Home / Law Teachers, Postsecondary / Best Cities Best Cities for Law Teachers, Postsecondarys Cities ranked by purchasing power — where law teachers, postsecondarys 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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro 1.71 $218,970 $220,070 8% 2 Iowa State 1.40 $160,700 $180,157 7% 3 South Carolina State 1.37 $162,400 $176,522 9% 4 Minnesota State 1.36 $171,790 $175,296 9% 5 Oregon State 1.26 $167,010 $162,146 11% 6 Kentucky State 1.24 $140,820 $159,119 8% 7 Alabama State 1.21 $135,340 $155,385 8% 8 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metro 1.21 $141,220 $154,846 10% 9 Indiana State 1.20 $139,400 $154,033 9% 10 Kansas State 1.20 $138,670 $154,078 9% 11 Michigan State 1.19 $141,680 $153,499 9% 12 Wisconsin State 1.19 $140,940 $152,698 9% 13 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro 1.17 $170,310 $150,053 18% 14 New Hampshire State 1.16 $157,800 $148,868 12% 15 Texas State 1.12 $138,160 $144,519 12% 16 Nebraska State 1.09 $127,690 $139,552 10% 17 Kansas City, MO-KS Metro 1.07 $127,980 $137,909 12% 18 Maine State 1.06 $136,400 $136,673 11% 19 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro 1.03 $139,980 $132,306 14% 20 Arizona State 1.02 $131,950 $130,773 14% 21 Virginia State 1.02 $136,270 $131,662 14% 22 Pittsburgh, PA Metro 1.02 $121,310 $131,146 12% 23 Maryland State 1.00 $139,980 $128,187 14% 24 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro 1.00 $125,440 $129,053 15% 25 Rhode Island State 0.99 $128,490 $127,851 14% 26 New Jersey State 0.97 $135,760 $124,779 16% 27 Pennsylvania State 0.97 $121,310 $125,062 13% 28 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro 0.97 $128,560 $124,213 15% 29 Massachusetts State 0.95 $132,010 $121,668 20% 30 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro 0.93 $130,330 $120,120 19% 31 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro 0.93 $134,090 $118,874 18% 32 District of Columbia State 0.91 $134,090 $117,314 19% 33 New York State 0.91 $132,180 $117,493 17% 34 Washington State 0.91 $125,210 $116,692 18% 35 Arkansas State 0.86 $95,630 $110,811 11% 36 Idaho State 0.86 $106,810 $110,684 13% 37 Illinois State 0.86 $107,700 $110,575 15% 38 California State 0.84 $119,540 $107,986 23% 39 North Carolina State 0.80 $97,090 $102,850 16% 40 Florida State 0.79 $102,720 $101,202 20% 41 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro 0.76 $114,330 $98,137 24% 42 Mississippi State 0.68 $74,440 $87,783 14% 43 Ohio State 0.65 $75,930 $83,993 17% 44 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro 0.65 $82,390 $83,645 25% 45 Utah State 0.53 $68,270 $68,134 26%
Data Sources: Salary: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS). Cost of Living: BEA Regional Price Parities (2024). Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2025).