Top Metros for Medical and Health Services Managers: New York Leads Overall as San Jose Tops Salaries

Across the top metros, LaborCove’s results show that salary, employment scale, and Geography Scores do not always move together. For example, San Jose has the highest median salary among the top 10 but does not hold the #1 overall rank, while New York leads the list despite a slightly lower median salary than San Jose. Compared with the national median salary of $123,860, every top‑10 metro with a supplied salary is above the national figure. Employment counts range from fewer than 5,000 medical and health services manager jobs in several metros to more than 35,000 in New York, illustrating how overall job concentration differs even among highly ranked locations. Nationally, medical and health services manager employment is projected to grow by 23.2%. That projection provides broad context for the occupation as a whole but does not specify how employment may change in any individual metro area.

Nationally, medical and health services managers have a median annual salary of $123,860 and employment of 597,080. Against that backdrop, each of the top‑ranked metros with a supplied salary shows a higher median salary than the national figure. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ, which ranks #1 in LaborCove’s metro results, has a median salary of $167,580—well above the national median. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA, at #2, posts a median salary of $166,310, also above the national level. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, at #3, has a median salary of $134,230, which is higher than the U.S. median as well. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (#4) has a median salary of $171,210, which is above the national median and is the highest salary reported among the top 10 metros. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (#5) has a median salary of $160,100, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (#6) comes in at $136,760, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (#7) is at $140,670, Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA (#8) is at $159,350, and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (#10) is at $121,640. Among these, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington’s median salary is the closest to the national figure and is slightly below it. For national context on future demand, medical and health services manager employment is projected to grow 23.2% across the U.S., but no metro‑specific projections are supplied in this dataset.

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ holds the #1 LaborCove rank among metros for medical and health services managers, with a Geography Score of 87.02. It also has the largest employment count among the listed metros, at 35,260, which matches the stated largest employment market figure in the broader geographic data. Its median salary of $167,580 is above the national median. California features prominently in the top 10 with San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (#2), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (#3), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (#4), and Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom (#8). San Francisco has a median salary of $166,310 and employment of 11,980, while Los Angeles has a median salary of $134,230 and employment of 23,740. Among the California metros listed, Los Angeles has the largest employment count. San Jose’s median salary of $171,210 is higher than New York’s median of $167,580, yet San Jose ranks #4 with a Geography Score of 62.60 compared with New York’s 87.02. Sacramento’s median salary of $159,350 and employment of 4,500 contrast with San Francisco’s higher employment and slightly higher median salary, reflecting different combinations of pay and scale even within one state.

Among the top 10, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has the highest reported median salary at $171,210. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ follows with $167,580, and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA sits at $166,310. All three are substantially above the national median salary of $123,860. However, LaborCove’s rankings show that the highest median salary does not automatically translate into the top overall position. Despite leading on pay among the listed metros, San Jose ranks #4 with a Geography Score of 62.60, while New York ranks #1 with a Geography Score of 87.02 and San Francisco ranks #2 at 65.23. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (#5) offers a median salary of $160,100 with a Geography Score of 54.67, while Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (#6) has a median salary of $136,760 and a Geography Score of 54.62. These two metros have nearly identical Geography Scores but differ in median salary levels, illustrating that the composite score is not a direct reflection of pay alone.

Employment counts for medical and health services managers vary noticeably across the top‑ranked metros. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ has 35,260 employed medical and health services managers, the highest count reported in the top 10 and consistent with the largest employment market figure supplied in the geographic data. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA has 23,740 employed medical and health services managers, which is smaller than New York’s count but larger than the employment figures supplied for the other top‑ranked metros. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX reports 17,140 employed medical and health services managers, placing it below Los Angeles but above San Francisco’s 11,980. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA has employment of 4,600, and Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA has 4,500, which are both smaller than the employment figures for New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, and Dallas. Ithaca, NY appears in the rankings at #9 with a Geography Score of 52.58 and a median salary of $128,050, but its employment count is not supplied in this dataset, so it cannot be compared on that metric.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 54.62, a median salary of $136,760, and employment of 12,990. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV holds the #7 spot with a Geography Score of 53.36, a median salary of $140,670, and employment of 11,730. These two metros have similar employment counts and Geography Scores but differ in pay, with Washington’s median salary of $140,670 exceeding Boston’s $136,760. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (#5) sits just above them in the rankings, with a Geography Score of 54.67 and a higher median salary of $160,100 than both Boston and Washington. At #10, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX has a Geography Score of 51.84, a median salary of $121,640, and employment of 17,140. Its employment count is larger than those of Boston and Washington, while its median salary is lower than both the national median of $123,860 and the salaries reported for the other listed metros with supplied pay data.

LaborCove builds these metro rankings from authoritative labor‑market data combined with its Geography Score methodology. For this article, national employment and median annual salary for medical and health services managers, as well as metro‑level salaries and employment counts, are drawn from Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) observations with a reference period of May 2025. The 2026 report year reflects when the data are organized and published, not when the underlying employment and wage observations occurred. LaborCove’s Geography Score blends multiple underlying indicators into a single value, which is then used to rank metros. Higher scores indicate a stronger combined showing on the measured factors for that occupation in that geography. Because the internal weighting of these factors is not supplied, this article treats the Geography Score as a composite result without attributing it to any one metric. The national projected employment growth rate of 23.2% for medical and health services managers is a U.S.‑wide occupational projection and is not a forecast for any particular state or metro. Readers should combine these rankings with their own priorities—such as preferred regions or personal circumstances—when evaluating potential locations.