Home / Surgeons, All Other / Best Cities Best Cities for Surgeons, All Others Cities ranked by purchasing power — where surgeons, all others 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 North Dakota State 1.58 $604,890 $653,229 2% 2 Columbus, OH Metro 1.57 $609,450 $651,818 3% 3 Oklahoma State 1.51 $553,790 $625,751 2% 4 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metro 1.49 $561,070 $615,208 3% 5 Ohio State 1.48 $554,220 $613,075 2% 6 Minnesota State 1.40 $568,150 $579,745 3% 7 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro 1.38 $568,150 $571,005 3% 8 West Virginia State 1.34 $468,210 $556,069 2% 9 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro 1.32 $529,100 $546,591 4% 10 Georgia State 1.30 $502,070 $537,548 3% 11 Indiana State 1.23 $459,300 $507,514 3% 12 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro 1.23 $494,800 $509,053 4% 13 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro 1.23 $500,390 $508,010 4% 14 New Hampshire State 1.22 $534,870 $504,594 4% 15 Illinois State 1.09 $438,010 $449,702 4% 16 Wisconsin State 1.09 $416,000 $450,704 3% 17 Michigan State 1.08 $412,460 $446,869 3% 18 Washington State 1.08 $479,460 $446,841 5% 19 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro 1.07 $504,360 $441,260 5% 20 Vermont State 1.03 $438,530 $427,834 4% 21 Florida State 1.02 $429,990 $423,635 5% 22 North Carolina State 1.02 $398,410 $422,044 4% 23 Wyoming State 1.01 $387,880 $417,075 3% 24 Arizona State 1.00 $415,980 $412,270 4% 25 Iowa State 1.00 $370,390 $415,235 3% 26 Tennessee State 0.99 $373,510 $408,208 4% 27 New Jersey State 0.97 $437,890 $402,472 5% 28 New Mexico State 0.96 $363,940 $395,587 3% 29 Nebraska State 0.90 $341,410 $373,126 4% 30 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro 0.89 $391,540 $370,076 5% 31 New York State 0.88 $410,410 $364,809 5% 32 Massachusetts State 0.86 $387,150 $356,820 7% 33 Virginia State 0.84 $360,510 $348,319 5% 34 Louisiana State 0.82 $304,830 $338,324 4% 35 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro 0.82 $386,300 $340,352 8% 36 Nevada State 0.79 $326,520 $325,868 5% 37 Maryland State 0.73 $328,700 $301,007 6% 38 Arkansas State 0.71 $254,940 $295,411 4% 39 San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro 0.66 $251,170 $273,011 6% 40 Texas State 0.56 $222,820 $233,075 7% 41 Idaho State 0.53 $211,490 $219,161 7% 42 Mississippi State 0.51 $180,420 $212,759 6% 43 Rhode Island State 0.48 $199,990 $198,995 9% 44 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro 0.48 $224,860 $199,344 11% 45 Kentucky State 0.44 $162,160 $183,232 7% 46 Connecticut State 0.36 $161,680 $150,260 12% 47 California State 0.29 $131,990 $119,232 21%
Data Sources: Salary: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS). Cost of Living: BEA Regional Price Parities (2024). Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2025).