Top Metro Areas for Nursing Assistants in 2026: New York Ranks #1 While West Coast Leads on Pay

Across the United States, nursing assistants have a national median annual salary of $42,260 and total employment of 1,448,910, with national employment projected to grow by 2.3%. Within that national picture, LaborCove’s top 10 metros combine varying levels of pay, employment, and Geography Scores. The rankings show that higher pay alone does not determine a metro’s position. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has the highest median salary in the top 10 at $56,840, but New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ ranks #1 overall with a lower median salary of $49,270 and the largest supplied metro employment count at 79,480. Several other metros—including Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN—feature sizable employment counts paired with median salaries above the national figure. Together, these results underscore that the best metro for an individual nursing assistant depends on how they weigh pay levels, the scale of the local employment base, and the overall LaborCove Geography Score rather than any single metric.

Before comparing metros, it helps to anchor the data in the national picture. For nursing assistants, the national median annual salary in 2026 is $42,260. National employment stands at 1,448,910, and national projected employment growth for the occupation is 2.3%. Every metro in the LaborCove top 10 has a median salary above this national figure. The lowest median salary in the top 10 is Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV at $45,730, which is still higher than the national median. At the upper end, several metros exceed $50,000, including San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA at $56,840; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA at $56,080; and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA at $51,990. The national employment and growth figures provide context but do not indicate how employment or potential hiring will change in individual metros. They instead frame how the leading metro areas fit within the broader U.S. labor market for nursing assistants.

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ holds the #1 LaborCove ranking for nursing assistants with a Geography Score of 80.62. Its median annual salary is $49,270, and its employment count of 79,480 is the largest supplied metro employment value in this top 10 list. While New York does not offer the highest median salary in the top 10, its pay is still above the national median of $42,260. The metro’s salary also sits between other top markets: it is higher than Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA at $47,380 and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN at $46,940, but lower than San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA at $56,840 and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA at $56,080. The combination of the highest Geography Score in the dataset and the largest supplied employment count among these metros distinguishes New York within LaborCove’s rankings, even though it does not lead on pay alone.

Several West Coast metros pair relatively high median salaries with strong but differing LaborCove Geography Scores. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has the highest median salary in the top 10 at $56,840 and ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 60.69. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA follows closely with a median salary of $56,080, an employment count of 11,790, and a Geography Score of 60.25, ranking #4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA ranks #2 overall, with a Geography Score of 61.72. Its median salary of $47,380 is higher than the national median of $42,260 but lower than the salaries in San Jose and San Francisco. Los Angeles has a supplied employment count of 43,090, which is larger than San Jose’s 5,350 and San Francisco’s 11,790, based on the provided data. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA adds another West Coast option with a median salary of $51,990, an employment count of 16,530, and a Geography Score of 55.68, placing it at #7. Its salary is above both the national median and the median salaries reported for Los Angeles and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN.

Among the top 10 metros, several stand out for having relatively large employment counts, even if their Geography Scores are below the very top of the list. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN ranks #5 with a Geography Score of 60.24, a median salary of $46,940, and an employment count of 45,850. The provided employment count for Chicago is larger than the supplied employment counts for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (43,090) and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (16,530). On the East Coast, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH ranks #8 and has an employment count of 26,130 alongside a median salary of $47,590 and a Geography Score of 55.25. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD ranks #9, with 30,680 employed nursing assistants, a median salary of $46,220, and a Geography Score of 54.90. Among these three metros, Philadelphia has the highest supplied employment count. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV completes the top 10 at rank #10 with a Geography Score of 51.71, a median salary of $45,730, and an employment count of 25,520. Its median salary is higher than the national median of $42,260 while being lower than Boston’s $47,590 in this dataset.

Fort Collins-Loveland, CO ranks #6 in the LaborCove metro list for nursing assistants, with a Geography Score of 56.62 and a median annual salary of $45,970. Its employment count is not supplied, so we cannot compare its employment level to other metros based on this dataset. Despite the missing employment figure, Fort Collins-Loveland, CO ranks ahead of Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (#7), Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (#8), Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (#9), and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (#10) in the overall Geography Score ranking. Its median salary of $45,970 is higher than the national median of $42,260 and is close to Washington’s $45,730. This illustrates that the LaborCove Geography Score reflects more than just the single highest salary or the largest reported employment count for a metro. Different combinations of metrics can still result in a higher overall rank, which users can weigh alongside the specific salary and employment figures that matter most to them.

LaborCove builds these metro rankings using authoritative labor-market data for the nursing assistant occupation (31-1131). For each metro area, we consider median annual salary, employment, and additional factors summarized in the proprietary LaborCove Geography Score. The Geography Score provides a single comparable value for each metro, which LaborCove uses to rank 385 areas from #1 downward. In this article, we focus on the 10 metros with the highest Geography Scores for nursing assistants in 2026. These rankings are a starting point for comparing locations. Nursing assistants should interpret the results alongside their own priorities, recognizing that a higher Geography Score or rank reflects the underlying data but does not guarantee individual employment outcomes or predict personal career success in any given metro.