Best Metro Areas for Nuclear Technicians in 2026: New York Tops Pay, Chicago Leads Employment

Across these nine metros, LaborCove’s rankings show that no single metric—pay, employment count, or score—dominates the others. New York-Newark-Jersey City has the highest Geography Score and the highest median salary in the group, while Chicago-Naperville-Elgin ranks second overall with the largest employment count but a median salary below the national benchmark. Several metros, including Birmingham and Richmond, pair relatively high median salaries with comparatively small employment counts. Nationally, nuclear technicians have a median annual salary of $110,240 and employment of 6,470, with a projected national employment decline of -7.7%. Against that backdrop, these metro rankings provide a focused view of where this work is concentrated and how pay levels differ, without making assumptions about hiring or future local growth.

At the national level, nuclear technicians have a median annual salary of $110,240 and total employment of 6,470. The supplied national projection shows employment declining by -7.7%. This national picture provides a benchmark for the metro results that follow. Metro median salaries can be viewed relative to the $110,240 national figure, and metro employment counts can be considered in the context of a 6,470-person national workforce, without assuming anything about local growth trajectories.

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ holds LaborCove’s #1 ranking with a Geography Score of 62.96, a median annual salary of $171,470, and an employment count of 100. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 55.86, the largest employment count among these metros at 470, and a median salary of $99,990. Compared with the national median salary of $110,240, New York’s median pay is higher, while Chicago’s is lower. Chicago’s employment count of 470 is also larger than New York’s 100, even though New York ranks higher in the LaborCove results. Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC sits at #3 with a Geography Score of 43.11, a median salary of $108,210, and employment of 260. Its median pay is slightly below the national median, and its employment count is smaller than Chicago’s 470 but larger than New York’s 100.

Several metros below the top three combine relatively high salaries with smaller employment counts. Birmingham, AL ranks #4 with a Geography Score of 34.61, a median salary of $126,930, and employment of 60. Richmond, VA ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 34.03, a median salary of $122,210, and employment of 60. Both Birmingham and Richmond have median salaries that are higher than the $110,240 national median. Each also has a median salary lower than New York’s $171,470 and higher than Chicago’s $99,990. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH at #5 has a Geography Score of 34.11, a median salary of $113,390, and employment of 50. Its median salary is higher than the national median and higher than Augusta-Richmond County’s $108,210, while its employment count is smaller than Augusta-Richmond County’s 260.

Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC is ranked #7 with a Geography Score of 33.12, a median salary of $114,910, and employment of 90. Its median salary is higher than the national median of $110,240 and higher than Chicago’s $99,990, while its employment count is smaller than Chicago’s 470. Augusta-Richmond County’s employment count of 260 is larger than Virginia Beach’s 90, and its median salary of $108,210 is lower than Virginia Beach’s $114,910. Chicago’s employment count of 470 is larger than both Augusta-Richmond County’s 260 and Virginia Beach’s 90. Boston’s median salary of $113,390 is lower than New York’s $171,470 but higher than Chicago’s $99,990 and higher than Augusta-Richmond County’s $108,210. Its employment count of 50 is smaller than all of those metros’ employment counts.

At the lower end of these rankings, Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC is #8 with a Geography Score of 23.20, a median salary of $96,730, and employment of 30. Knoxville, TN is #9 with a Geography Score of 18.96, a median salary of $78,850, and employment of 60. Both Greenville-Anderson-Greer and Knoxville have median salaries lower than the $110,240 national median. Greenville-Anderson-Greer’s median salary of $96,730 is higher than Knoxville’s $78,850. Greenville-Anderson-Greer’s employment count of 30 is smaller than Knoxville’s 60. Within this nine-metro set, New York’s median salary of $171,470 is higher than all the other listed metro medians, while Knoxville’s $78,850 is lower than the others. Chicago’s employment count of 470 is higher than the employment counts reported for any of the other metros in this dataset.

LaborCove builds these metro rankings using authoritative labor-market data for nuclear technicians (occupation code 19-4051) and its proprietary LaborCove Geography Score. For each metro area, we consider median annual salary, employment counts, and the Geography Score and then rank locations accordingly. The national projected employment growth rate of -7.7% applies to nuclear technicians across the entire country, not to any specific metro area. No metro- or state-level growth rates are supplied for this analysis. These rankings are a structured lens on the data, not a prescription. Nuclear technicians should weigh these results alongside their own priorities—including preferred regions, employers, and non-work considerations—when evaluating where to focus their search.