Best Cities for Marine Engineers and Naval Architectss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where marine engineers and naval architectss 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	1.42	$152,780	$159,812	11%
2	District of ColumbiaState	1.34	$172,330	$150,770	15%
3	South CarolinaState	1.33	$136,990	$148,902	11%
4	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVMetro	1.26	$159,700	$141,578	15%
5	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FLMetro	1.20	$132,250	$134,264	16%
6	FloridaState	1.15	$130,640	$128,709	16%
7	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FLMetro	1.11	$135,270	$124,673	18%
8	MarylandState	1.06	$130,150	$119,185	15%
9	MississippiState	1.02	$97,060	$114,458	11%
10	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WAMetro	1.00	$128,610	$112,520	21%
11	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MDMetro	0.96	$113,940	$107,694	18%
12	MassachusettsState	0.94	$114,640	$105,659	24%
13	GeorgiaState	0.93	$97,770	$104,679	17%
14	WashingtonState	0.91	$109,550	$102,097	21%
15	MaineState	0.90	$100,430	$100,631	15%
16	CaliforniaState	0.89	$110,700	$100,000	25%
17	New YorkState	0.89	$112,230	$99,760	20%
18	HawaiiState	0.88	$108,200	$98,364	26%
19	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAMetro	0.79	$103,170	$88,558	26%
20	WisconsinState	0.76	$78,850	$85,428	17%
21	MichiganState	0.74	$76,210	$82,568	18%

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