
Probably the greatest methods to extend your probabilities of making more cash is to maneuver to a metropolis that has a excessive variety of high-paying jobs. Ideally, you need to safe a high-paying job provide first earlier than transferring to one in every of these cities. In any other case, it could be robust going given the upper price of residing within the highest-income ranked cities.
Regardless that working from house is extra prevalent post-pandemic, should you’re nonetheless early in your profession, working from house is a profession limiting transfer. Once you’re in your 20s and 30s it is best to be within the workplace networking so that you’ve got extra individuals pulling for you as they ascend.
Let us take a look at the newest revenue rating by metro metropolis in line with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Metropolis Metros That Pay The Most Quantity Of Earnings
Under is the listing of the very best revenue metropolis metros as of 2021. The highest 5 highest revenue metropolis metros are:
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
- Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
- San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
The highest ten highest revenue metros are:

If you wish to make some huge cash, you may as nicely search for jobs in one in every of these high 10 revenue metros.
Personally, I am biased in direction of San Francisco since I’ve lived right here since 2001. It is the metro many individuals, together with the media, like to hate given its climate, excessive price of residing, and great wealth creation through the years.
If I had had more cash when residing in New York Metropolis from 1999 – 2001, I’d have loved it much more. New York Metropolis is actually one of the best metropolis in America for six months out of the 12 months.
Sturdy Staying Energy With Most Of The Highest Earnings Metro Areas
Six of the highest ten highest revenue metros in 2021 had been ranked within the high ten in 1980. Subsequently, one might say high-income locations 40 years in the past had been capable of construct upon its optimistic community results. In the meantime, low-income locations 40 years in the past are nonetheless comparatively low-income in the present day.
This is likely to be akin to the wealthy staying wealthy and the poor having issue getting out of poverty as a consequence of structural points. Nevertheless, staying poor just isn’t an inevitability!
The rise of Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR (from #107 to #10), Austin-Spherical Rock-Georgetown, TX (#55 to #9), and Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (#31 to #4) are notably spectacular.
On reflection, betting on the Boston metro in 1980 was fairly apparent.
I bear in mind visiting within the early Nineteen Nineties and questioning why Boston was so low-cost in comparison with New York Metropolis, regardless of having the identical dreadful winter. With its world-class universities and decrease price of residing, it appeared like an inevitability Boston would someday catch as much as New York Metropolis.
What Are The Subsequent Prime Earnings Metropolis Metros?
The billion greenback query is that are the subsequent metro areas to surge up the revenue rankings chart?
Northwest Arkansas, Provo-Orem, Austin, Nashville, Charleston, Milwaukee, and Raleigh seem like among the most promising metropolis metros. Job development and revenue development are robust and their price of residing is comparatively reasonably priced.
Raleigh is already a finance middle, whereas tech appears to be rising quickly in Austin. As soon as a metro has job development momentum, the momentum tends to proceed. Extra jobs appeal to extra companies. Extra companies appeal to extra infrastructure. Higher infrastructure attracts extra migration and so forth.
The Key To Larger Earnings Development Is Expertise
The chart beneath highlights which metros outperformed since 1980 (above the straight yellow line). Since 1980, the most important driver of revenue development appears to be like to be know-how adopted by finance.
The perfect-performing shares over the previous a number of many years have principally been tech firms akin to Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, all of that are based mostly within the San Jose, San Francisco, and Seattle metros.

The event of the finance trade was additionally key to boosting incomes within the Bridgeport, Boston, and New York metros. From leveraged buyouts to junk bonds to mortgage backed securities to the creation of monumental lively funds, finance has made loads of residents rich since 1980.
Lastly, with the ever-increasing dimension of the federal government, it’s no shock that the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro continues to be one of many high ten highest revenue metros for greater than 40 years in a row. Like inflation, the federal government’s development is usually unstoppable.
Logical Conclusions If You Need To Get Wealthy
The information from the U.S. Division of Commerce present that if you wish to get wealthy, do the next:
- Get a job in one of many top-income metros
- Work in finance, know-how, or for the federal authorities
- Work for so long as doable
- Put money into actual property within the high revenue metros as winners are inclined to carry on profitable
- Search for actual property investments in up-and-coming metros (18-hour cities) with the very best job development
- Relocate to a decrease revenue metro with decrease price of residing when you’re skilled or wish to retire
My Earnings Journey In Two Prime Earnings Metros
I spent my first two full-time work years in New York Metropolis and the subsequent twenty-two years in San Francisco thus far. I’m fairly assured that if I had stayed in New York Metropolis, I’d have regularly made a wholesome six-figure revenue as my profession progressed.
If I used to be nonetheless working in finance in the present day, after twenty 4 years, I assign a 65% probability I would repeatedly be making over $1 million a 12 months. I additionally may need a pot stomach, plenty of gray hair, TMJ, and continual decrease again ache. However at the very least I would be wealthy!
Though onerous work and ability are concerned in getting wealthy, placing your self in the appropriate place to maximise your probabilities of getting wealthy is likely to be much more necessary. There are many common individuals in New York and San Francisco who’ve gotten extremely wealthy simply by becoming a member of the appropriate agency and sticking with it.
You could possibly be the neatest particular person on the planet, but when one of the best firm in your metropolis does not actually have a billion greenback market cap after 20 years, you may by no means get into the highest 1%.
Reader Questions And Ideas
What do you suppose would be the subsequent high ten revenue metro? How necessary is it to reside and work in a high revenue metropolis metro if you wish to get wealthy? What do you suppose is stopping individuals from transferring to high revenue metros?
Making a excessive revenue and investing in actual property in a high-growth metro is a good way to construct extra wealth. Take a look at Fundrise, a vertically built-in actual property investor that predominantly invests in residential and industrial properties within the Sunbelt.
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