Best Metro Areas for Computer Programmers in 2026: New York Tops Overall, Boulder and San Jose Lead on Pay

Across the U.S., computer programmers have a national median annual salary of $100,390 and total employment of 92,230 in the 2026 report year. National projected employment growth for this occupation is -6.0%, indicating a projected decline in employment at the national level. Within that national context, LaborCove identifies 223 metro geographies for computer programmers, with the largest single employment market in the dataset at 6,670 jobs. The top 10 metros in the LaborCove rankings span a wide range of salaries, employment counts, and Geography Scores, which means “best” depends on which metric you prioritize. The data shows that the highest-ranked metro is not always the one with the highest salary or the largest employment count. For example, New York-Newark-Jersey City ranks #1 overall even though Boulder has the highest median salary among these metros and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has a smaller employment count than New York-Newark-Jersey City. LaborCove’s Geography Score captures a broader combination of factors than salary or employment alone.

Nationally, computer programmers have a median annual salary of $100,390 in the 2026 dataset, with total national employment of 92,230. The occupation’s national projected employment growth is -6.0%, reflecting a projected decline in employment for computer programmers across the United States. The metro-level rankings in this article sit inside that national picture. They show how specific locations compare on median pay, employment counts, and LaborCove Geography Scores, but they do not provide metro-specific growth projections. Any growth figure discussed here applies only at the national level, not to individual metros.

LaborCove ranks 223 metro areas for computer programmers. Among them, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ holds the #1 spot with a Geography Score of 78.63, the highest score in the supplied top 10. Boulder, CO follows at rank #2 with a Geography Score of 66.88, while San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 63.00. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT occupy ranks #4 and #5, with Geography Scores of 59.31 and 58.20 respectively. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV ranks #6 at 56.89, and Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA ranks #7 at 56.63. Rounding out the top 10 are Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA at rank #8 with a Geography Score of 53.98, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA at rank #9 with 53.96, and Charlottesville, VA at rank #10 with 53.86. Within this group, New York-Newark-Jersey City has the highest Geography Score, while Charlottesville has the lowest Geography Score, even though several metros below New York have higher median salaries than New York.

The national median annual salary for computer programmers is $100,390. All of the top 10 metros in this ranking have reported median salaries above that national figure. Within the group, Boulder, CO has the highest median salary at $155,030, slightly above San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA at $154,920. Both of these salaries are also above the median in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA, which stands at $134,130. Several other metros cluster in the $125,000–$131,000 range: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has a median salary of $130,730; Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT is at $130,790; Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV is at $130,390; Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA is at $125,240; and New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ is at $126,750. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA and Charlottesville, VA have lower median salaries than these metros, at $107,090 and $109,770 respectively, though both remain above the national median of $100,390.

LaborCove’s metro data for computer programmers includes employment counts for several of the top-ranked locations. The largest single metro employment count supplied in this dataset is 6,670, and that value belongs to New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ. This is higher than the employment counts reported for any other top-10 metro. Among the other metros with supplied employment data, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA reports 3,400 computer programmer jobs, while Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV has 2,680. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA shows 2,440, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA shows 1,600, and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has 980. Within this subset, New York-Newark-Jersey City has the largest employment count, and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has the smallest employment count. These figures describe the relative size of the reported programmer workforce in each metro; they do not indicate the number of job openings or employers.

The top-ranked metro in this list, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ, combines a median salary of $126,750 with a Geography Score of 78.63. Boulder, CO, in contrast, offers a higher median salary of $155,030 but has a lower Geography Score of 66.88 and ranks #2 rather than #1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA provides a median salary of $154,920, slightly below Boulder’s median but still higher than New York-Newark-Jersey City’s median salary. Yet San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 63.00, behind both New York-Newark-Jersey City and Boulder. These comparisons show that the highest salaries in this dataset belong to Boulder and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, but New York-Newark-Jersey City achieves the top overall rank and highest Geography Score. LaborCove’s Geography Score therefore reflects more than salary alone, and metros with very strong pay can still rank lower overall than metros with somewhat lower pay.

For computer programmers comparing locations, this top-10 list highlights clear differences in salary levels, employment counts, and LaborCove Geography Scores. Some metros, like Boulder and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, stand out on pay, while New York-Newark-Jersey City stands out on both rank and employment count among the metros with supplied data. Because the national projected growth rate of -6.0% applies only at the national level, it should be treated as broad context rather than a metro-level forecast. The metro rankings in this article do not provide local growth projections. When using this information, it can be helpful to weigh how much median pay, employment count, and overall Geography Score matter to you. LaborCove’s data gives a structured view of how leading metros compare numerically, but individual decisions will also depend on non-quantitative factors outside the scope of this dataset.

LaborCove’s metro rankings for computer programmers are built from authoritative labor-market data combined with the LaborCove Geography Score, which summarizes how each metro compares on key quantitative indicators such as salary, employment, and other internal metrics. Each metro receives a Geography Score and a resulting rank. Higher scores correspond to higher positions in the LaborCove rankings, but the exact contribution of each underlying metric to the score is determined by LaborCove’s internal methodology and is not broken out in this article. Because the rankings rely on standardized, quantitative inputs, they provide a consistent way to compare metros. However, they should be considered alongside your own priorities, such as preferred industries, personal networks, and non-labor factors that are not captured in LaborCove’s data.