A data-driven framework for evaluating real earning power across 10 major cities
View Interactive DashboardThis analysis evaluates 2,426 Tech and Finance job postings across 10 major North American cities to assess how salary, taxes, cost of living, and healthcare impact real earning power.
While San Francisco offers the highest raw median salary ($155,500), it does not provide the strongest economic outcome once living costs are considered. Austin delivers the best purchasing power due to lower living costs and zero state income tax, while Seattle leads in take-home pay by combining high tech salaries with no state income tax.
Cross-border analysis shows that Canadian cities offer competitive purchasing power, supported by universal healthcare and lower living costs, despite raw salaries averaging ~13% lower than U.S. equivalents.
Professionals increasingly face trade-offs between headline salary, living costs, tax burden, and quality of life. A high salary does not automatically translate to higher financial well-being.
This report provides a data-driven framework for evaluating where Tech and Finance professionals can maximize:
United States (7): New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Austin, Denver, Miami
Canada (3): Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal
Tech and Finance positions across entry, mid, senior, lead, and executive levels.
Job posting data was collected via the JSearch API (RapidAPI), aggregating listings from major job boards including LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor. Over 12,000 postings were collected, with 2,426 roles containing reliable salary data suitable for analysis.
Gross salary minus federal and state/provincial taxes, payroll contributions, and estimated healthcare costs.
Salary normalized against cost-of-living indices to reflect real purchasing capacity.
A composite measure combining take-home income and cost of living to represent true economic value.
When salaries are adjusted for cost of living:
This highlights why raw salary alone is a misleading decision metric.
Tech roles command a 22.1% salary premium over Finance across cities. The premium persists across experience levels, narrowing slightly at executive tiers.
| Level | Median Salary | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | $95,000 | — |
| Mid | $112,500 | +18% |
| Senior | $128,600 | +14% |
| Lead | $151,800 | +18% |
| Executive | $178,000 | +17% |
Remote roles show a 10.2% salary premium, suggesting employers pay competitively to access broader talent pools.
The analysis was implemented using Python and Pandas for data collection and transformation, following an ETL pipeline design. Data was modeled using a star schema optimized for Power BI, enabling fast slicing by city, sector, experience, and role type.
The final output is delivered through an interactive Power BI dashboard, allowing users to dynamically explore salary trade-offs across regions and scenarios.