Best Cities for Transit and Railroad Polices

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where transit and railroad polices 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	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MDMetro	1.11	$103,980	$100,464	18%
2	CaliforniaState	1.10	$109,650	$99,051	25%
3	New JerseyState	1.08	$106,290	$97,693	20%
4	MarylandState	1.01	$99,420	$91,044	20%
5	UtahState	0.97	$87,770	$87,595	20%
6	TexasState	0.91	$78,480	$82,092	21%
7	New YorkState	0.89	$90,460	$80,409	25%
8	MissouriState	0.85	$67,840	$76,569	18%
9	FloridaState	0.76	$69,810	$68,778	30%
10	GeorgiaState	0.68	$57,690	$61,767	29%

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