Best Cities for Petroleum Engineerss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where petroleum engineerss 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	AlaskaState	1.36	$206,290	$197,785	8%
2	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TXMetro	1.20	$168,600	$173,457	11%
3	OklahomaState	1.19	$153,020	$172,904	8%
4	TexasState	1.19	$164,860	$172,448	10%
5	UtahState	1.19	$172,840	$172,495	10%
6	ColoradoState	1.13	$172,190	$163,368	13%
7	LouisianaState	1.07	$139,640	$154,983	9%
8	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MIMetro	1.03	$135,630	$148,717	11%
9	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAMetro	0.99	$167,000	$143,348	16%
10	North DakotaState	0.98	$132,120	$142,678	9%
11	Pittsburgh, PAMetro	0.97	$130,230	$140,789	11%
12	CaliforniaState	0.90	$143,590	$129,711	19%
13	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TXMetro	0.90	$120,460	$130,935	13%
14	KansasState	0.89	$115,640	$128,489	11%
15	WashingtonState	0.87	$134,800	$125,629	17%
16	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WAMetro	0.81	$134,800	$117,935	20%
17	West VirginiaState	0.77	$93,360	$110,879	11%
18	NebraskaState	0.76	$100,800	$110,164	12%
19	OhioState	0.76	$99,260	$109,801	13%
20	New MexicoState	0.75	$99,900	$108,587	13%
21	MontanaState	0.74	$104,060	$107,946	13%
22	Columbus, OHMetro	0.73	$99,260	$106,160	16%
23	PennsylvaniaState	0.72	$101,880	$105,031	15%
24	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MDMetro	0.71	$106,650	$103,043	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).