Best Cities for Political Scientistss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where political scientistss 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	PennsylvaniaState	1.02	$140,020	$144,351	11%
2	MarylandState	0.99	$153,380	$140,458	13%
3	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVMetro	0.98	$156,730	$138,945	15%
4	WashingtonState	0.96	$147,060	$137,055	15%
5	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WAMetro	0.95	$153,960	$134,698	17%
6	District of ColumbiaState	0.94	$152,530	$133,447	17%
7	OhioState	0.93	$119,370	$132,046	11%
8	MassachusettsState	0.87	$133,930	$123,438	20%
9	ColoradoState	0.85	$127,260	$120,740	17%
10	TexasState	0.84	$114,050	$119,299	15%
11	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NHMetro	0.83	$133,930	$118,000	23%
12	OregonState	0.82	$119,460	$115,981	16%
13	ArizonaState	0.76	$108,770	$107,800	17%
14	IllinoisState	0.75	$103,780	$106,550	15%
15	MichiganState	0.66	$86,290	$93,489	16%
16	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MIMetro	0.62	$79,990	$87,708	18%
17	New HampshireState	0.50	$74,560	$70,340	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).