Best Metro Areas for Nurse Practitioners in 2026: New York Leads as California Cities Dominate the Top 10

Across LaborCove’s top 10 metros for nurse practitioners, the data shows several distinct patterns rather than a single “best” profile. Some locations pair high rankings with comparatively large employment counts, while others stand out primarily for very high median salaries. At the national level, a median salary of $132,300 and projected employment growth of 40.1% indicate a strong overall market context for nurse practitioners. Within that context, every ranked metro has a median salary above the national figure, but they differ on employment size and Geography Scores, which drives their relative ordering in the LaborCove rankings. The highest LaborCove Geography Score in the top 10 belongs to New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ, which also has the largest supplied employment count. By contrast, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA rank second and third overall with higher median salaries than New York, but with substantially smaller supplied employment counts. Several California metros cluster in the top 10, including San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, Vallejo, and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario. These metros span a wide range of employment counts but all share median salaries that exceed the national median. Taken together, the rankings highlight trade-offs between award-leading salaries, larger employment counts, and Geography Scores. Nurse practitioners can use these differences to align their preferences with the specific patterns present in each metro, while keeping national pay and growth context in mind.

Before comparing metros, it helps to understand the national baseline. For nurse practitioners, the national median annual salary is $132,300. National employment stands at 323,040, and projected employment growth for the occupation is 40.1% at the national level. These national figures provide context for interpreting metro-level variation. Every metro in LaborCove’s top 10 list has a median salary higher than the national median. Differences among the metros therefore reflect degrees of elevation above this same national benchmark rather than contrasts between below- and above-median locations. Because the 40.1% projection is a national occupational figure, it should not be interpreted as a local projection for any individual metro. The rankings here compare metros on their LaborCove Geography Scores, median salaries, and supplied employment counts within that broader nationwide outlook.

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ ranks #1 in LaborCove’s metro results for nurse practitioners, with a LaborCove Geography Score of 70.01. Its median salary is $163,340, which is higher than the national median of $132,300. New York also has the largest supplied employment count among the top metros, at 21,680 nurse practitioner jobs. This figure is higher than the national largest employment market indicator of 21,680, which identifies the same metro as having the largest employment count among the 383 geographies in the dataset. Compared with Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, which has 10,060 nurse practitioner jobs, New York’s employment count is more than double based on the supplied values. New York therefore stands out in the rankings as the metro that combines the highest LaborCove Geography Score with the largest employment count while maintaining a median salary above the national median.

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA holds the #2 rank with a LaborCove Geography Score of 61.21 and a median salary of $231,560. This salary is higher than both the national median of $132,300 and New York’s median of $163,340. San Jose’s supplied employment count is 1,580. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 58.01 and a median salary of $219,080. This salary is higher than the national median and higher than New York’s median, but lower than San Jose’s median. San Francisco’s supplied employment count is 3,110, which is larger than San Jose’s employment count of 1,580. These two metros illustrate that very high salaries do not automatically correspond to the top Geography Score. San Jose and San Francisco have higher median salaries than New York yet rank below it on LaborCove’s list, and they both have smaller supplied employment counts than New York. Their Geography Scores and ranks therefore reflect a different balance between salary levels and other factors in the scoring system.

Beyond San Jose and San Francisco, several other West Coast metros appear in the top 10. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA ranks #4 with a LaborCove Geography Score of 50.38 and a median salary of $160,090, which is higher than the national median. Employment for Seattle is not supplied, so no employment comparison can be drawn for this metro. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA ranks #5 with a Geography Score of 50.20 and a median salary of $161,470, higher than the national median. Its employment count of 10,060 is smaller than New York’s 21,680 but larger than the supplied employment counts for San Jose (1,580) and San Francisco (3,110). San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA ranks #7 with a Geography Score of 39.44 and a median salary of $163,860. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA ranks #8 with a Geography Score of 38.72 and a median salary of $172,010. Both metros have median salaries above the national median, with Sacramento’s median higher than San Diego’s. Their employment counts are 2,340 for San Diego and 1,170 for Sacramento, making San Diego’s employment larger than Sacramento’s based on the supplied values.

The final two California metros in the top 10—Vallejo, CA and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA—illustrate how smaller supplied employment counts can still coincide with higher salaries and mid-range Geography Scores relative to the group. Vallejo, CA ranks #9 with a LaborCove Geography Score of 38.19 and a median salary of $182,370, higher than the national median. Its employment count is 180, which is smaller than the supplied employment counts for New York (21,680), Los Angeles (10,060), San Diego (2,340), San Jose (1,580), San Francisco (3,110), Sacramento (1,170), and Riverside (1,710). Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA ranks #10 with a Geography Score of 38.11 and a median salary of $169,920, also higher than the national median. Its employment count of 1,710 is smaller than New York’s 21,680 but larger than Vallejo’s 180 and Sacramento’s 1,170 based on the supplied values.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH is the other non–West Coast, non–New York metro in the top 10. It ranks #6 with a LaborCove Geography Score of 40.79 and a median salary of $147,480. This median salary is higher than the national median of $132,300. Boston’s supplied employment count is 5,990. This is smaller than New York’s employment of 21,680 but larger than the supplied employment counts for San Jose (1,580), San Francisco (3,110), San Diego (2,340), Sacramento (1,170), Vallejo (180), and Riverside (1,710). Boston’s position in the middle of the top 10 illustrates an alternative profile in which a metro can have a median salary above the national figure, a mid-range Geography Score compared with other top metros, and a moderate employment count within the group.

LaborCove’s metro rankings for nurse practitioners are based on authoritative labor-market data and the proprietary LaborCove Geography Score. For each metro, we use supplied median annual salary, employment counts (when available), and other structured inputs that feed into the Geography Score. The Geography Score is a composite indicator that underpins the rankings shown here. A higher score corresponds to a higher place in LaborCove’s ordered results. However, the evidence supplied for this article does not break down how individual metrics contribute to each score, so this article focuses on observable differences in salaries, employment counts, and scores rather than inferring causation. All projected employment growth figures cited here are national projections for the nurse practitioner occupation as a whole, not metro-level projections. When weighing these rankings, nurse practitioners should consider their own priorities—such as preference for higher salaries or larger employment counts—alongside LaborCove’s Geography Scores and the national context for this occupation.