5 Cities Where Cost of Living Is Low And Pay Is High

May 15, 2018

The job market is strong right now, but wages are also quite stagnant. This creates some pretty frustrating circumstances. Many people are working very hard and still struggling to make ends meet. But the situation is worse in some cities – where the cost of living is relatively high – than it is in others.

A new report from GOBankingRates sheds some light on cities where the cost of living is low but average annual salaries are high. Let’s take a closer look at a few of the cities that stood out:

1. Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh, North Carolina is a great example of a city where the cost of living is low (a full 5.4 percentage points below the national average) and annual salaries are high. The average resident here earns $56,151. Some popular industries here include Technology (IT) Services, and Software Development.

2. Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas has been a city where your paycheck goes pretty far for some time; it’s shown up on lists like this for a few years now. Trends in wages (wages are up in Houston by .4 percent in Q1 2018) suggest that this is likely to continue. The cost of living is 1.9 percent lower than the national average in this city. And, the average salary is $59,691.

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3. Kansas City, Missouri

The average Kansas City, Missouri resident earns a salary of $52,368. Trends in wages showed a slight decline during Q1 2018 going down by .2 percentage points. Some of the most common occupations in Kansas City are Operations Manger, Mechanical Engineer and Software Engineer, according to PayScale’s data. The cost of living in this city is at the national average.

4. Dallas, Texas

Although the cost of living in Dallas, Texas is 1.9 percentage points above the national average, this is still an affordable city. The average salary here is $59,952 and wages are up .4 percent as of Q1 2018. Some popular employers in Dallas include Texas Instruments, Inc., Southwest Airlines Co, and AT&T Inc.

5. Bakersfield, California

The average salary in Bakersfield, California is lower than other cities on the list at $45,401 However, the cost of living here is a solid 4.7 percentage points below the national average. And, that makes all the difference. The most popular industries in Bakersfield are Agriculture, and Oil and Gas Exploration.

*The data in this post is from PayScale’s Salary Data & Career Research Center. The cities were selected from the report.