Top Metro Areas for Fundraisers: New York Ranks #1, San Jose Pays the Most

Across the top 10 metros, LaborCove’s data shows that the best markets for fundraisers do not all follow the same pattern. New York-Newark-Jersey City leads the rankings with the highest Geography Score and the largest employment count, while San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara offers the highest median salary but ranks second overall. Several metros—including Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis—have median salaries above the national figure despite varying employment levels, underscoring that compensation and job counts do not move in lockstep. The geography rankings reflect how these elements combine in each location, rather than tracking pay or employment alone.

At the national level, fundraisers have a median annual salary of $72,550. National employment stands at 111,040, establishing a reference point for comparing the size of metro labor markets. National projected employment growth for fundraisers is 4.3%. This is a U.S.-wide projection for the occupation and is not a metro-level or state-level forecast. In this article, it serves only as context for understanding the occupation overall while the detailed comparisons focus on the 10 highlighted metro areas.

New York-Newark-Jersey City ranks #1 in LaborCove’s metro results for fundraisers, with a Geography Score of 73.62. This is the highest Geography Score among the top 10 metros supplied. New York-Newark-Jersey City also has the largest employment count in the top 10, with 9,520 fundraiser jobs, and the largest employment market noted in the broader geographic dataset. Its median salary of $82,180 is higher than the national median of $72,550. Compared with other top metros, New York’s pay level is not the highest in the group, but its combination of a leading Geography Score and the largest employment count distinguishes it within LaborCove’s ranking for fundraisers.

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara holds the #2 spot in LaborCove’s ranking with a Geography Score of 62.00, which is lower than New York-Newark-Jersey City’s Geography Score of 73.62. However, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has the highest median salary among the top 10 metros at $106,760. This is higher than the national median of $72,550, and higher than the median salary in New York-Newark-Jersey City at $82,180. Employment for fundraisers in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is 1,060, which is smaller than the 9,520 jobs in New York-Newark-Jersey City. This contrast illustrates that LaborCove’s Geography Score does not track directly with either pay level or employment count alone.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 53.54 and employment of 4,620 fundraisers. Its median salary of $80,340 is above the national median of $72,550. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont is ranked #4 with a Geography Score of 51.96, a median salary of $82,930, and employment of 3,020. Its median salary is higher than both the national median of $72,550 and Boston-Cambridge-Newton’s median salary of $80,340. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria ranks #5 with a Geography Score of 51.72, employment of 4,450, and a median salary of $80,610. Its median salary is above the national median and higher than Boston-Cambridge-Newton’s median salary of $80,340, while remaining lower than San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont’s $82,930. Across these three metros, employment counts range from 3,020 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont to 4,620 in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, with Washington-Arlington-Alexandria in between at 4,450.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 50.92. It has a median salary of $77,550 and employment of 4,230. Its median salary is higher than the national median of $72,550. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is ranked #7 with a Geography Score of 47.26, a median salary of $80,920, and employment of 2,630. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue’s median salary is higher than both the national median and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim’s median salary of $77,550. Comparing employment counts, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim’s 4,230 fundraiser jobs exceed the 2,630 jobs in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, even though Seattle has the higher median salary in this pair.

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington ranks #8 with a Geography Score of 44.05, a median salary of $74,370, and employment of 2,960. Its median salary is above the national median of $72,550. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin holds the #9 position with a Geography Score of 43.69. It has a median salary of $72,550 and employment of 3,540. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin’s median salary matches the national median of $72,550. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington ranks #10 with a Geography Score of 42.04, a median salary of $78,780, and employment of 2,070. Its median salary is higher than the national median and higher than Chicago-Naperville-Elgin’s median salary of $72,550. Within this trio, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin has a larger employment count (3,540) than both Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington (2,960) and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington (2,070).

LaborCove’s Best Metro Areas for Fundraisers ranking is built from structured labor-market evidence and the LaborCove Geography Score. For this article, LaborCove used national and metro-level data for fundraisers (occupation code 13-1131). National figures for median annual salary, employment, and projected employment growth provide a U.S.-wide benchmark. Metro-level results include median annual salary, employment counts, and LaborCove Geography Scores for each area. The underlying occupational statistics are based on OEWS observations from May 2025. The 2026 report year reflects when this information is organized and published, not when the jobs were observed. The 4.3% projected employment growth figure is a national projection for fundraisers and is not a forecast for any individual metro. LaborCove’s Geography Score summarizes how each metro performs across its scoring inputs, producing a single value used to rank areas. The precise weighting of salary, employment, and other factors inside the score is proprietary and not broken out in this article. Because the score reflects multiple dimensions, the highest-paying metro does not necessarily receive the highest Geography Score. Job seekers should treat these rankings as one data-driven input alongside their own priorities, such as desired industries, personal networks, and non-work considerations that are outside the scope of this dataset.