U.S. News and World Report recently evaluated the cities where real income (what your paycheck can buy, considering the cost of living) is the highest. Des Moines, Iowa takes the top slot.
As Richard Florida shows, looking at income in this way has a leveling effect:
"As anyone who has ever paid Manhattan rents swiftly learns, New York City's relatively high salaries don't go very far. In fact, when cost of living is taken into account, the New York metro posts the second lowest "real income" of any region with more than 500,000 people, according to an analysis commissioned by US News and World Report. New York's median household income of $62,887 falls to an adjusted real income of just $35,370 when cost of living is taken into account. Only the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro in Texas, one of the very poorest in the nation with an actual income of just $30,460, fares worse with a real income of $34,931."
FULL STORY: Where Paychecks Go the Furthest: 20 Best and Worst Cities
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research