For young job hunters and others starting out in their career, it's highly likely that rent is going to gobble up a large chunk of those initial paychecks. With that in mind, it may pay to consider working in some cities over others, according to a new ranking.
A new study by BusinessStudent.com shows that some cities give a good bang for the buck when it comes to salaries versus rents.
To come up with the ranking, the website took the average salaries of more than 125 jobs in each city and deducted the average cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment in each location. The cities were then ranked by how much each hypothetical worker was left with after the rent deduction.
The resulting top 10 ranking was noteworthy not only for what cities it contained, but for those cities that were at the bottom of the list. The study found, for example, that cities with some of the highest average salaries had some of the lowest "after-rent" salaries. New York City, for example, was fourth from the bottom, with an average annual salary of $92,130, but a disposable income after rent of only $47,574. San Francisco was third from last, with an average salary of $101,205 and with an average monthly rent of $4,509, an after-rent salary of only $47,097.
At the very bottom of the list was College Station, Texas, with an after-rent income of $44,214 and an average monthly rent of $906.
"Cities that pay a lot in salaries also typically have very high cost of living," the report noted.
The salary data was taken from Indeed.com and the rent data from RentJungle, according to BusinessStudent.com.
BusinessStudent.com concluded the following cities, in ascending order, provide the best salaries after deducting rent:
10. Las Vegas
Average salary: $115,637
Average rent: $3,928
After-rent salary: $68,501
9. Fort Worth, Texas
Average salary: $75,797
Average rent: $1,108
After-rent salary: $62,501
8. Raleigh, N.C.
Average salary: $78,391
Average rent: $1,323
After-rent salary: $62,515
7. Houston
Average salary: $79,579
Average rent: $1,401
After-rent salary: $62,767
6. Chicago
Average salary: $88,351
Average rent: $2,096
After-rent salary: $63,199
5. Sunnyvale, Calif.
Average salary: $105,456
Average rent: $3,449
After-rent salary: $64,068
4. Dallas
Average salary: $82,609
Average rent: $1,422
After-rent salary: $65,545
3. Detroit
Average salary: $81,197
Average rent: $1,292
After-rent salary: $65,693
2. San Jose, Calif.
Average salary: $107,243
Average rent: $3,325
After-rent salary: $67,343
1. Palo Alto, Calif.
Average salary: $115,637
Average rent: $3,928
After-rent salary: $68,501
The full report can be viewed here.