The 10 States With The Highest Manager Salaries For 2019

Chris Kolmar
by Chris Kolmar
Rankings, Salaries - 11 months ago

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Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do managers get paid where I live?

And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for managers by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.

To better understand how salaries change across America, we decided to take a look the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average pay for managers by state.

Additionally, we wanted to adjust the salary based on the cost of living in a state — because your salary goes further in North Carolina than it does in California.

The state with the best salary for managers after this adjustment? That would be Managers, All Other.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for salaries:

  1. Texas
  2. North Carolina
  3. Virginia
  4. Colorado
  5. Georgia
  6. Arkansas
  7. Minnesota
  8. Pennsylvania
  9. West Virginia
  10. Washington

Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.

If you’re interested, you can read more about the job scene here:

How we determined pay by state

As we mentioned earlier, we took the average annual salary data for managers from the 2016 Bureau of Labor Statistics — specifically their ‘Occupational Employment Statistics.’

To make the comparison of salaries apples to apples across states, we also took into account the cost of living in each state.

We then created an index by dividing the average wage for a state by the cost of living relative to average. As an example, the cost of living index in California is 135.9 and the average pay is $133630, so our index value would be:

$133,630 * (100 / 135.9) = $98,329

We then ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary index ranking as highest average salary for managers.

Here’s a look at the full ranking for all states.

For more reading, check out:

Detailed List Of Manager Salaries By State

Rank State Adjusted Salary Average Wage Cost Of Living
1 Texas $135,865 $123,230 90.7
2 North Carolina $130,457 $122,500 93.9
3 Virginia $126,795 $127,810 100.8
4 Colorado $126,348 $131,150 103.8
5 Georgia $125,787 $114,970 91.4
6 Arkansas $122,238 $106,470 87.1
7 Minnesota $121,924 $122,900 100.8
8 Pennsylvania $118,037 $119,690 101.4
9 West Virginia $117,162 $109,430 93.4
10 Washington $115,133 $121,120 105.2
11 Ohio $113,795 $106,740 93.8
12 Missouri $113,429 $102,540 90.4
13 Nebraska $111,997 $102,590 91.6
14 New Jersey $111,960 $136,480 121.9
15 Alabama $111,008 $101,240 91.2
16 Michigan $110,831 $98,640 89.0
17 Oklahoma $108,733 $96,990 89.2
18 Utah $108,344 $100,760 93.0
19 Florida $107,538 $105,710 98.3
20 Wyoming $106,067 $97,370 91.8
21 Kentucky $105,955 $95,890 90.5
22 Kansas $104,738 $94,160 89.9
23 New Hampshire $104,521 $122,290 117.0
24 Mississippi $104,039 $89,370 85.9
25 Arizona $99,306 $97,320 98.0
26 California $98,329 $133,630 135.9
27 Rhode Island $98,268 $118,610 120.7
28 South Carolina $98,054 $97,270 99.2
29 North Dakota $97,615 $97,030 99.4
30 Maryland $96,183 $120,710 125.5
31 Tennessee $96,096 $85,910 89.4
32 Iowa $94,978 $86,430 91.0
33 New Mexico $94,860 $91,540 96.5
34 Massachusetts $94,767 $126,420 133.4
35 Nevada $94,191 $97,300 103.3
36 New York $92,839 $121,620 131.0
37 Connecticut $92,067 $117,570 127.7
38 Wisconsin $90,123 $87,240 96.8
39 South Dakota $89,691 $93,010 103.7
40 Idaho $88,968 $81,940 92.1
41 Vermont $88,546 $107,230 121.1
42 Louisiana $88,502 $83,900 94.8
43 Maine $86,435 $95,770 110.8
44 Alaska $83,684 $109,710 131.1
45 Oregon $79,117 $91,460 115.6
46 Indiana $79,039 $70,740 89.5
47 Montana $70,297 $70,860 100.8
48 Hawaii $53,061 $89,090 167.9
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