Top Metro Areas for Financial Managers: New York Leads as High-Pay Markets Diverge on Scale and Scores

Across the United States, financial managers have a national median annual salary of $166,570 and an estimated 841,710 employed in the occupation. LaborCove’s metro-level results show that every top‑10 metro listed here has a median salary above this national benchmark, but they differ substantially in employment counts and Geography Scores. The ranking also illustrates that the highest salary does not automatically produce the highest LaborCove Geography Score. For example, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has the highest median salary in the top 10, yet New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ holds the number‑one rank with a higher Geography Score and a much larger employment count. Nationally, financial manager employment is projected to grow by 14.8%. This projection provides national context for the occupation but does not specify how employment will change in any individual metro area listed in this ranking.

Nationally, financial managers have a median annual salary of $166,570. Every metro in LaborCove’s top‑10 list reports a higher median salary than this national figure, ranging from $168,810 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN up to $225,280 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA. Employment also varies sharply between the national total and individual metros. National employment for financial managers is 841,710, while the single largest metro employment count among the top 10 is 89,960 in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ. Other top metros span from just over 7,000 to the mid‑40,000s in employment, underscoring the difference between the national scale of the occupation and metro‑level concentrations.

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ ranks #1 for financial managers with a LaborCove Geography Score of 87.19. Its median annual salary of $221,010 is well above the national median of $166,570, and its employment count of 89,960 is the largest among the top‑10 metros and matches the reported largest employment market figure. Compared with other large metros in the ranking, New York combines a higher Geography Score with a larger employment count. For instance, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN has 41,590 employed financial managers, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA has 34,480, both below New York’s 89,960. New York’s salary level also exceeds the median pay in several other high‑employment metros such as Los Angeles ($175,310), Chicago ($168,810), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX ($169,200), and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV ($185,270).

Within the top 10, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has the highest median annual salary for financial managers at $225,280, yet it ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 61.40. By contrast, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ has a slightly lower median salary of $221,010 but ranks #1 with a Geography Score of 87.19. A similar pattern appears when comparing other metros. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA reports a median salary of $216,150 and ranks #3, while Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH has a somewhat lower salary of $209,780 and ranks #4. Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT has a median salary of $211,000 that is higher than Boston’s $209,780, yet Bridgeport ranks #8 with a lower Geography Score of 50.46 compared with Boston’s 58.29. These comparisons show that LaborCove’s Geography Score reflects more than salary alone.

Among the top‑10 metros, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ has the largest employment count for financial managers at 89,960. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN follows with 41,590 employed, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA reports 34,480. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX are at a similar level with 26,430 and 26,600 employed, respectively. Other high‑ranking metros have smaller employment counts. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has 17,040 employed financial managers, while Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH reports 21,650. Toward the lower end of the employment range in this top‑10 set, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has 7,970 employed, Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT has 7,210, and Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO has 7,490. These figures illustrate the spread in metro employment from just over 7,000 to nearly 90,000 within the same top‑ranked group.

LaborCove Geography Scores for the top‑10 metros span a wide range, from 87.19 in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ down to 48.52 in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO. The drop from rank #1 to rank #2 is substantial: New York’s score of 87.19 is much higher than San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA’s score of 61.40. The scores then step down more gradually, with San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA at 60.18, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH at 58.29, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA at 54.80. Further down the list, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN has a Geography Score of 53.57, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV is at 52.72, Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT stands at 50.46, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX at 49.03, and Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO at 48.52. These scores show how LaborCove distinguishes among metros that all rank highly overall but differ in their combined characteristics for financial managers.

The projected national employment growth rate for financial managers is 14.8%. This figure describes how the occupation is expected to change nationally and does not provide metro‑specific projections for New York, San Jose, or any other area in the ranking. Within that national context, the LaborCove Geography Scores, salaries, and employment counts help differentiate leading metros but do not by themselves indicate how many future openings may appear in each location. Financial managers can use these rankings to compare current pay levels and employment scale across top metros, while keeping in mind that local conditions may evolve differently from the national projection.

LaborCove builds its rankings from authoritative labor‑market data combined with an internal Geography Score methodology. For financial managers (occupation code 11-3031), the national figures and metro comparisons in this article draw on Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) observations from May 2025, paired with a separate national projected employment growth rate. Each metro area in the top‑10 list is assigned a LaborCove Geography Score, which incorporates salary, employment, and other measured factors for this occupation in that location. The exact internal weighting of each component is proprietary and is not detailed in this article. All projected employment growth figures cited are national occupational projections only and should not be interpreted as forecasts for any individual state or metro area. As with any aggregated ranking, these results are a starting point. Financial managers should consider this data alongside personal factors such as role fit, employer preferences, and non‑labor‑market priorities when evaluating locations.