Top Metros for Fundraising Managers: New York Leads, Santa Cruz Pays the Most

For fundraising managers, the national data provides a baseline: a median annual salary of $125,470, national employment of 38,810, and a projected national employment growth rate of 4.2%. The top-ranked metros diverge from this baseline in different ways—some stand out for higher median pay, others for larger employment counts, and others for a stronger overall LaborCove Geography Score. New York-Newark-Jersey City anchors the rankings with the highest LaborCove Geography Score among the listed metros, and it also has the largest reported employment count. Several metros, including New York, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, show median salaries above the national figure, while Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin sit closer to the national benchmark. St. Louis, despite ranking tenth overall, posts a median salary not far below the national median. The Geography Scores show that salary alone does not determine the rankings. For example, Santa Cruz-Watsonville has the highest median salary in the top 10 list but ranks seventh by LaborCove Geography Score, while New York combines a high salary level with the top score and the largest employment count. These contrasts highlight that the best metro for a given professional decision will depend on how someone weighs salary, employment scale, and overall metro ranking, rather than on a single metric.

Nationally, fundraising managers have a median annual salary of $125,470 and total employment of 38,810. The occupation also carries a projected national employment growth rate of 4.2%, which describes expectations for this role across the United States as a whole. This national median salary provides a reference point when looking at metro-level pay. In the top 10 metros, New York-Newark-Jersey City, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, and St. Louis can all be compared with this $125,470 benchmark to see whether they sit above, near, or below the national median for fundraising managers. The national employment figure of 38,810 also helps place individual metro employment counts in context. For example, New York-Newark-Jersey City’s 3,720 fundraising manager roles account for only a portion of that national total, but it still represents the largest reported metro employment count in the top 10 list.

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ ranks #1 among the listed metros with a LaborCove Geography Score of 85.31. This score is higher than the Geography Scores reported for Boston-Cambridge-Newton (62.34), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (57.38), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (57.13), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (53.15), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (52.04), Santa Cruz-Watsonville (51.76), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (51.07), Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (47.45), and St. Louis (46.40). New York also shows a median salary of $170,780 for fundraising managers, which is higher than the national median of $125,470. Among the listed metros, New York’s median salary is higher than those in Boston-Cambridge-Newton ($161,500), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont ($157,750), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($164,330), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ($125,620), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria ($141,720), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue ($151,490), Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ($109,720), and St. Louis ($120,760), while it is lower than Santa Cruz-Watsonville’s $179,130. In terms of employment, New York’s 3,720 fundraising manager positions represent the largest metro-level employment count within the top 10 list, and this aligns with the separate note that 3,720 is the largest employment market identified in the geographic data. New York’s employment count is higher than the counts reported for Boston-Cambridge-Newton (1,720), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (1,030), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (460), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (2,080), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (1,470), Santa Cruz-Watsonville (30), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (800), and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (2,310).

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 62.34 and a median salary of $161,500. This salary is higher than the national median of $125,470. Boston’s employment count of 1,720 is smaller than New York’s 3,720 but larger than the counts for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (1,030), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (460), Santa Cruz-Watsonville (30), and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (800). San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 57.38 and a median salary of $157,750, which is also above the $125,470 national median. Its employment count of 1,030 is smaller than the counts in New York (3,720), Boston (1,720), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (2,080), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (1,470), and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (2,310), but larger than those in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (460), Santa Cruz-Watsonville (30), and Santa Cruz-Watsonville’s 30. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ranks #4 with a Geography Score of 57.13 and reports a median salary of $164,330, which is higher than the national median and higher than San Francisco’s median salary of $157,750. San Jose’s employment count of 460 is smaller than those in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, Seattle, and Chicago, but it remains higher than the 30 roles reported in Santa Cruz-Watsonville.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA holds rank #5 with a LaborCove Geography Score of 53.15. Its median salary for fundraising managers is $125,620, which is slightly higher than the national median of $125,470. Los Angeles reports 2,080 fundraising manager roles, a count that is smaller than New York’s 3,720 but larger than the employment counts in Boston (1,720), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (1,030), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (460), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (1,470), Santa Cruz-Watsonville (30), and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (800). Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 52.04 and a median salary of $141,720. This salary is higher than the national median and higher than Los Angeles’s $125,620 for fundraising managers, but lower than New York’s $170,780. Washington’s employment count of 1,470 is smaller than those in New York (3,720), Los Angeles (2,080), Boston (1,720), and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (2,310), while it is larger than the counts for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (1,030), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (460), Santa Cruz-Watsonville (30), and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (800). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN appears at rank #9 with a Geography Score of 47.45 and a median salary of $109,720. This median salary is lower than the national figure of $125,470 and lower than the salaries in all other listed metros. However, Chicago’s employment count of 2,310 is larger than the counts in Boston (1,720), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (1,030), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (460), Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (1,470), Santa Cruz-Watsonville (30), Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue (800), and it is also larger than Los Angeles’s 2,080.

Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA ranks #7 with a Geography Score of 51.76 but stands out on salary: its median of $179,130 is higher than the national median of $125,470 and higher than the salaries in all other listed metros, including New York’s $170,780 and San Jose’s $164,330. At the same time, the employment count of 30 is lower than the reported counts in every other metro in the top 10 list. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA holds rank #8 with a Geography Score of 51.07 and a median salary of $151,490, which is higher than the national median. Its employment count of 800 is smaller than those in New York, Boston, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Los Angeles, Washington, and Chicago, but larger than the counts for San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (460) and Santa Cruz-Watsonville (30). St. Louis, MO-IL completes the top 10 with a Geography Score of 46.40 and a median salary of $120,760. This salary is lower than the national median of $125,470 and lower than every other metro’s salary except Chicago’s $109,720. Employment for St. Louis is not supplied, so no employment comparisons with other metros can be made for this location beyond recognizing its #10 ranking by Geography Score.

LaborCove rankings for fundraising managers are built from authoritative labor-market data and the LaborCove Geography Score, which incorporates median annual salary, employment counts, and other internal factors. For this article, national benchmarks and metro-level salaries and employment come from Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) observations referenced to May 2025, combined with a separate national occupational projection that supplies the 4.2% projected employment growth rate. The Geography Score is a composite indicator produced by LaborCove to compare locations consistently. While higher scores and ranks indicate that a metro performs better in the LaborCove framework than lower-scoring metros, the score does not predict individual outcomes or hiring chances. Readers should treat these rankings as structured context rather than prescriptions. Factors such as personal circumstances, professional network, and role fit are not captured in the quantitative data. Instead, LaborCove’s approach is to surface how metros differ on the comparable measures we do track—median salary, employment counts, and score-based ranking—so that individuals can weigh these against their own priorities.