Top Metros for Compensation and Benefits Managers: New York Leads, High Pay Spreads Beyond Big Markets

Across the U.S., compensation and benefits managers have a national median annual salary of $149,230 and national employment of 22,940 positions. National projected employment growth for this occupation is 0.2%, which describes expectations for the occupation as a whole rather than for any specific city or region. Within that national context, LaborCove identifies 92 metro areas with data for compensation and benefits managers. Among these, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ appears as the largest reported metro employment market with 2,420 positions for this occupation and ranks first in the LaborCove Geography Score. Other metros in the top 10 show a range of salary and employment combinations, illustrating that higher pay does not always correspond to a higher overall Geography Score ranking. Several top metros post median salaries above the national median while differing substantially in employment counts and Geography Scores. This mix allows you to compare whether total reported employment, pay levels relative to the national benchmark, or a metro’s overall Geography Score alignment with your priorities matters more for your own decision-making.

For compensation and benefits managers nationally, the median annual salary is $149,230. Every metro in LaborCove’s top 10 list has a higher median salary than this national figure, based on the supplied values. Within the top 10 metros, median salaries range from $155,380 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA to $221,800 in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR. This shows that even the lowest‑paying metro in the top 10 still sits above the national median salary for the occupation. On employment, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ has 2,420 reported positions for compensation and benefits managers, compared with national employment of 22,940 across all areas. Other top metros have smaller reported employment counts, such as 40 in Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR and 230 in Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT, illustrating that high salaries can appear both in larger and smaller reported metro employment markets.

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ ranks #1 in LaborCove’s metro list for compensation and benefits managers with a Geography Score of 78.24. This is the highest Geography Score among the supplied top 10 metros. It also has the largest reported metro employment count at 2,420 positions for this occupation. The median salary in New York-Newark-Jersey City is $179,730, which is higher than the national median of $149,230. Compared with other large metros in the top 10, New York’s median salary is higher than the $155,380 reported in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA but lower than the $216,580 reported in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA. New York-Newark-Jersey City’s combination of the top Geography Score and the largest supplied metro employment count makes it stand out within LaborCove’s data set for this occupation, even though some other metros report higher median salaries.

Several metros in the top 10 list report median salaries that exceed New York-Newark-Jersey City’s $179,730 figure but rank lower in the LaborCove Geography Score. For example, Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR has the highest median salary among the top 10 at $221,800 but ranks #8 with a Geography Score of 51.94. Similarly, Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT has a median salary of $218,860 while ranking #5 with a Geography Score of 53.20. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA also report higher median salaries than New York-Newark-Jersey City — $215,180 and $216,580 respectively — yet they rank #2 and #3 in the Geography Score rankings, below New York’s #1 position. This shows that the LaborCove Geography Score reflects more than median salary alone. Within the top 10, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH fall between New York and the highest‑salary metros on pay. Their median salaries of $188,850 and $185,590 are higher than New York’s $179,730 figure, while their Geography Score rankings (#4 and #6) remain below New York’s #1 position.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA offer a useful contrast on salary and reported employment among the top 10 metros. Los Angeles has a median salary of $155,380 and reported employment of 1,030 compensation and benefits managers, while Atlanta reports a median salary of $166,100 and 760 positions. Atlanta’s median salary is higher than Los Angeles’s, but Los Angeles has a larger reported employment count in the supplied data. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA also highlight variation between salary and employment. Seattle’s median salary of $216,580 is higher than San Francisco’s $188,850, while San Francisco’s reported employment of 590 positions is greater than Seattle’s 340. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH and San Francisco report the same supplied employment count of 590 positions for this occupation, yet Boston’s median salary of $185,590 is lower than San Francisco’s $188,850. Their Geography Scores are also very close, at 53.15 for Boston and 55.86 for San Francisco, but these scores still place both metros below New York-Newark-Jersey City in the rankings.

Some metros in the top 10 pair relatively small reported employment counts with high median salaries. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR reports the highest median salary in the top 10 at $221,800 with 40 positions, which is the smallest reported employment count among the metros with non‑missing employment data supplied here. Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT combines a median salary of $218,860 with 230 reported positions, and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA combines a median salary of $215,180 with 320 positions. Both metros have higher median salaries than New York-Newark-Jersey City’s $179,730 while having smaller supplied employment counts than New York’s 2,420 positions. Salem, OR appears at #7 in the rankings with a Geography Score of 52.51 and a median salary of $163,270. Employment data for Salem is not supplied in this evidence set, so LaborCove’s analysis for this metro focuses on its reported salary and Geography Score relative to the national benchmarks and to other ranked metros.

LaborCove’s metro rankings for compensation and benefits managers are based on authoritative labor‑market data combined with the proprietary LaborCove Geography Score. For each metro, we use the supplied median annual salary, employment count (when available), and the Geography Score and ranking. National figures for this article use the supplied occupation‑level benchmarks: a national median annual salary of $149,230, national employment of 22,940, and a national projected employment growth rate of 0.2%. The projected growth rate is a national occupational projection and is not attributed to any specific metro or state. OEWS‑based observations referenced in this Insight use a verified reference month of May 2025. Report year 2026 refers to the product/reporting year for these data products rather than the underlying observation date. LaborCove’s Geography Score summarizes multiple metrics into a single value, but the internal weighting of those components is not disclosed in this article. Rankings and scores should be considered alongside your own priorities, such as which matters more to you among salary levels, the size of the reported employment count, or the relative Geography Score for each metro.