Top Metros for Computer and Information Systems Managers: New York Ranks #1 While San Jose Offers the Highest Pay

Across the top 10 metros, LaborCove’s results show that the highest-ranked market does not necessarily have the highest salary. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has the highest median pay in the top 10 at $291,660, but it ranks #2 overall, behind New York-Newark-Jersey City, which has a median salary of $215,300. This illustrates how the LaborCove Geography Score reflects more than a single metric. Employment scale also varies widely within the top 10. New York-Newark-Jersey City has 62,430 employed computer and information systems managers, more than triple San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara’s 19,070 and well above Boston-Cambridge-Newton’s 20,530. Several metros in the ranking, including Rapid City, SD at #10, do not have employment figures supplied, which limits direct comparisons on job counts for those locations. Compared with the national median salary of $175,140, the five highest-ranked metros all have higher median pay. New York-Newark-Jersey City at $215,300 and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $232,890 both sit above the national benchmark, while Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim’s $204,370 and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue’s $214,680 also exceed it. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington’s median salary of $173,810 is slightly below the national median, even though it ranks #7 in the LaborCove metro results. LaborCove’s Geography Scores create additional separation among metros beyond raw salaries and employment. New York-Newark-Jersey City’s score of 74.38 sits ahead of San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at 67.90 and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at 57.45, even though San Jose has the highest salary in the group. At the lower end of the top 10, Rapid City ranks #10 with a Geography Score of 42.92, below Chicago-Naperville-Elgin’s 43.54 and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria’s 45.79. Taken together, the data shows that the best metros for computer and information systems managers differ on salary levels, employment concentration, and overall Geography Scores. National projected employment growth of 15.2% for the occupation provides broader context but does not indicate how individual metros will change. For career planning, the LaborCove rankings highlight how specific locations compare on the measurable factors available in this dataset.

Nationally, computer and information systems managers earn a median annual salary of $175,140, with 670,570 people employed in the occupation. Within the top 10 metros, several locations have median salaries that differ notably from this benchmark. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara’s median salary of $291,660 is well above the national median, and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $232,890 is also higher than the national figure. New York-Newark-Jersey City’s median of $215,300, Boston-Cambridge-Newton’s $214,960, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim’s $204,370, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue’s $214,680, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria’s $195,190, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin’s $173,760, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington’s $173,810, and Rapid City’s $163,860 together show a wide range around the national median. On employment, New York-Newark-Jersey City stands out with 62,430 employed computer and information systems managers, compared with the national total of 670,570 for the occupation. Other top-10 metros have smaller counts, including San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara with 19,070, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont with 23,830, Boston-Cambridge-Newton with 20,530, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim with 23,180, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue with 13,170, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington with 30,690, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria with 20,800, and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin with 24,950. Rapid City’s employment figure is not supplied, so it cannot be compared on this dimension. The national projected employment growth rate of 15.2% for this occupation adds broad context: it describes an expectation for computer and information systems managers nationally, not for specific metros. The metro comparisons in this article are therefore based on current salary, employment counts where available, and Geography Scores, rather than local growth forecasts.

New York-Newark-Jersey City ranks #1 in LaborCove’s metro list for computer and information systems managers with a Geography Score of 74.38. It combines a median salary of $215,300 with an employment count of 62,430. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 67.90 and has the highest median salary among the top 10 metros at $291,660. Its employment count of 19,070 is smaller than New York-Newark-Jersey City’s 62,430. This contrast illustrates that the highest salary in the group does not automatically correspond to the highest Geography Score or overall rank. LaborCove’s methodology incorporates more than one metric, so a metro with a lower salary than another—such as New York compared with San Jose—can still receive a higher Geography Score and rank #1 overall.

Three California metros appear in the top five: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (#2), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (#3), and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (#5). San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has a median salary of $291,660 and employment of 19,070, with a Geography Score of 67.90. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont reports a median salary of $232,890, employment of 23,830, and a Geography Score of 57.45. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim shows a median salary of $204,370, employment of 23,180, and a Geography Score of 50.30. San Jose’s median salary of $291,660 is higher than both San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont’s $232,890 and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim’s $204,370. At the same time, San Jose has a higher Geography Score than the other two California metros: 67.90 compared with San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont’s 57.45 and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim’s 50.30. Employment counts for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (23,830) and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (23,180) are both larger than San Jose’s 19,070 within this top-10 group.

Several high-ranked metros outside New York and California show varied combinations of salary and employment. Boston-Cambridge-Newton ranks #4 with a Geography Score of 50.68, a median salary of $214,960, and employment of 20,530. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 46.76, a median salary of $214,680, and employment of 13,170. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ranks #7 with a Geography Score of 46.67, a median salary of $173,810, and employment of 30,690. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, at #8, has a Geography Score of 45.79, a median salary of $195,190, and employment of 20,800. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ranks #9 with a Geography Score of 43.54, a median salary of $173,760, and employment of 24,950. These figures indicate that metros with similar Geography Scores can differ substantially in both salary and employment counts.

Rapid City, SD appears at #10 on the LaborCove list with a Geography Score of 42.92 and a median salary of $163,860. Rapid City’s Geography Score of 42.92 is lower than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin’s 43.54 and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria’s 45.79, which are ranked #9 and #8 respectively. However, its placement in the top 10 indicates that it still falls within LaborCove’s highest-ranked metros for this occupation. Because Rapid City’s employment count is not supplied, the comparison for that metric is limited to the metros where employment figures are available. For Rapid City, the analysis is therefore based on its rank, Geography Score, and median salary within the top-10 list.

LaborCove builds these metro rankings for computer and information systems managers using structured labor-market data combined with its internal Geography Score methodology. For this article, national occupation figures for median annual salary, employment, and projected employment growth describe the occupation of computer and information systems managers (11-3021) at the national level. The referenced occupational employment observations are from May 2025, while the report year is 2026. Metro-level evidence includes median annual salary, employment counts where supplied, and LaborCove Geography Scores and rankings for 382 metro areas. The Geography Score is a composite indicator used to rank locations, but the specific weighting of salary, employment, or other possible inputs is not disclosed here. The national projected employment growth rate of 15.2% applies only to the occupation nationally and is not a forecast for any individual state or metro. No metro-level projected growth figures are used or implied. Rankings are a starting point for analysis and should be considered alongside an individual’s own priorities and constraints, such as preferred region or industry. All comparisons in this Insight are drawn directly from the supplied values or from simple numerical comparisons among those values.