Among the best methods to extend your possibilities of making extra money is to maneuver to a metropolis that has a excessive variety of high-paying jobs. Ideally, you need to safe a high-paying job supply first earlier than transferring to one in all these cities. In any other case, it might be robust going given the upper price of residing within the highest-income ranked cities.
Though working from house is extra prevalent post-pandemic, when 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 folks pulling for you as they ascend.
Let’s take a look at the newest revenue rating by metro metropolis in response to the U.S. Division of Commerce.
Metropolis Metros That Pay The Most Quantity Of Revenue
Beneath is the record of the 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
If you wish to make some huge cash, you would possibly as effectively search for jobs in one in all these prime 10 revenue metros.
Personally, I am biased in the 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 super wealth creation.
If I had had extra money when residing in New York Metropolis from 1999 – 2001, I might have loved it much more. New York Metropolis is actually the perfect metropolis in America for six months out of the yr.
Sturdy Staying Energy With Most Of The Highest Revenue Metro Areas
Six of the highest ten highest revenue metros in 2021 have been ranked within the prime ten in 1980. Subsequently, one may say high-income locations 40 years in the past have been capable of construct upon its constructive community results. In the meantime, low-income locations 40 years in the past are nonetheless comparatively low-income at the moment.
This is perhaps akin to the wealthy staying wealthy and the poor having problem getting out of poverty on account 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 significantly spectacular.
Looking back, betting on the Boston metro in 1980 was fairly apparent. I keep 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 sooner or later catch as much as New York Metropolis.
What Are The Subsequent High Revenue Metropolis Metros?
The billion greenback query is that are the following metro areas to surge up the revenue rankings chart?
Northwest Arkansas, Provo-Orem, Austin, Nashville, Charleston, Milwaukee, and Raleigh appear like a few of 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 heart, 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 entice extra companies. Extra companies entice extra infrastructure. Higher infrastructure attracts extra migration and so forth.
The Key To Increased Revenue Progress Is Know-how
The chart under highlights which metros outperformed since 1980 (above the straight yellow line). Since 1980, the most important driver of revenue development seems to be know-how adopted by finance.
The most effective-performing shares over the previous a number of a long time have principally been tech firms corresponding to Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, all of that are primarily based 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 huge 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 prime 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 attainable
- Spend money on actual property within the prime revenue metros as winners are likely to carry on profitable
- Search for actual property investments in up-and-coming metros with the best job development
- Relocate to a decrease revenue metro with decrease price of residing when you’re skilled or wish to retire
My Revenue Journey In Two High Revenue Metros
I spent my first two full-time work years in New York Metropolis and the following twenty-two years in San Francisco to this point. I’m fairly assured that if I had stayed in New York Metropolis, I might have regularly made a wholesome six-figure revenue as my profession progressed.
If I used to be nonetheless working in finance at the moment, after twenty 4 years, I assign a 65% probability I would often be making over $1 million a yr. I additionally might need a pot stomach, a number of gray hair, TMJ, and continual decrease again ache. However at the least I would be wealthy!
Though laborious work and talent are concerned in getting wealthy, placing your self in the appropriate place to maximise your possibilities of getting wealthy is perhaps much more essential. There are many common folks 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 possibly can be the neatest individual on the earth, but when the perfect firm in your metropolis would not also have a billion greenback market cap after 20 years, you would possibly by no means get into the highest 1%.
Reader Questions And Options
What do you suppose would be the subsequent prime ten revenue metro? How essential is it to dwell and work in a prime revenue metropolis metro if you wish to get wealthy? What do you suppose is stopping folks from transferring to prime revenue metros?
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