Top Metros for Radiologic Technologists in 2026: New York Leads, California Pays Far More

Across 357 metro areas, LaborCove’s 2026 rankings for radiologic technologists and technicians show that high pay, larger employment counts, and top Geography Scores do not always align in a single place. Nationally, the occupation’s median annual salary is $80,110, with 230,490 people employed and a projected national employment growth rate of 4.3%. Within that context, the top 10 metros range from New York-Newark-Jersey City, which combines the highest Geography Score and the largest employment count in the top group, to smaller California markets like Vallejo and Santa Rosa-Petaluma that pair high salaries with comparatively modest job counts. Several of the top metros have median salaries well above the national median, but the LaborCove Geography Score does not simply track pay levels. For example, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara and Vallejo report the two highest median salaries in the top 10 list, yet both rank below New York-Newark-Jersey City on Geography Score. The data also highlight that a metro can achieve a top-10 ranking with a missing employment value, as in Fort Collins-Loveland, where the Geography Score reflects LaborCove’s scoring even though an employment count is not supplied here. Taken together, the numbers suggest that radiologic technologists and technicians weighing relocation in 2026 may see different combinations of higher pay, larger local job counts, and higher Geography Scores across the leading metros. Comparing those dimensions directly can help frame how each location fits with individual priorities, within the limits of the evidence available.

For radiologic technologists and technicians, the national median annual salary in 2026 is $80,110, with total national employment of 230,490. Against that backdrop, every metro in LaborCove’s top 10 has a supplied median salary at or above the national median. New York-Newark-Jersey City, ranked #1, reports a median salary of $102,730 and an employment count of 12,700, the largest employment market identified in the evidence. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, at rank #4, has a median salary of $108,030 and employment of 6,450, a smaller employment count than New York-Newark-Jersey City but still one of the larger job totals among the top 10 metros. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, ranked #10, records a median salary of $113,480 and employment of 1,770. That salary is higher than the national median, while the employment count is lower than New York-Newark-Jersey City and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim but higher than several smaller California metros such as Vallejo and Santa Rosa-Petaluma in this top-10 group.

New York-Newark-Jersey City holds the #1 spot with a LaborCove Geography Score of 72.61, which is higher than the score for any other metro in the top 10 list. Its employment count of 12,700 is also higher than the employment count for any other listed metro, matching the largest employment market figure supplied in the evidence. Boston-Cambridge-Newton appears at rank #6 with a Geography Score of 49.25, a median salary of $104,590, and employment of 4,100. Both its median salary and employment count are lower than those of New York-Newark-Jersey City, and its Geography Score is also lower. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, ranked #4, has a Geography Score of 56.01, a median salary of $108,030, and employment of 6,450. Its Geography Score is lower than New York-Newark-Jersey City’s but higher than Boston-Cambridge-Newton’s, while its employment count sits between the larger New York market and the smaller Boston total.

California metros feature prominently in the top 10, but their positions show that high salaries and Geography Scores do not always coincide at the very top of the ranking. Vallejo reports the highest median salary in the top 10 at $160,380 and has a Geography Score of 51.60, yet it ranks #5 overall, below New York-Newark-Jersey City, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, ranked #2, has a median salary of $154,850 and a Geography Score of 59.55. While its median salary is lower than Vallejo’s, its Geography Score is higher. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, at rank #3, has a median salary of $141,780 and a Geography Score of 58.28, with both values below San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara but above the national median salary. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, at rank #7, combines a median salary of $135,880 with a Geography Score of 49.24 and employment of 1,360. Santa Rosa-Petaluma, at rank #9, records a median salary of $137,530, a Geography Score of 46.07, and employment of 200. In this pair, Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom has the lower median salary but higher Geography Score and larger reported employment count than Santa Rosa-Petaluma.

Several top-10 metros pair relatively small employment counts with high median salaries. Vallejo, ranked #5, has a median salary of $160,380 and employment of 270. Santa Rosa-Petaluma, ranked #9, shows a median salary of $137,530 and employment of 200. Both metros have employment counts that are much smaller than New York-Newark-Jersey City’s 12,700 and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim’s 6,450. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, at rank #2, has an employment count of 1,000 and a median salary of $154,850. Its employment is smaller than that of New York-Newark-Jersey City, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, and San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, but its median salary is higher than any of those four metros. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, ranked #3 with employment of 2,850, sits between these smaller-employment metros and the larger hubs. Its median salary of $141,780 is lower than San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara’s and Vallejo’s but higher than New York-Newark-Jersey City’s and Boston-Cambridge-Newton’s.

Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado, appears at rank #8 with a LaborCove Geography Score of 46.85 and a median salary of $84,000. The employment count for this metro is not supplied in the evidence. Compared with the national median salary of $80,110, Fort Collins-Loveland’s median salary is higher. Its Geography Score is lower than that of nearby-ranked metros Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom (49.24) and Santa Rosa-Petaluma (46.07) but higher than San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad’s 45.37. Because the employment value is not provided for Fort Collins-Loveland, comparisons involving job counts can only be made among metros where employment data is supplied, reinforcing that the LaborCove Geography Score incorporates more than just the metrics visible in this excerpt.

LaborCove builds its rankings for radiologic technologists and technicians using authoritative labor-market data combined into a LaborCove Geography Score for each metro area. For this article, we use the supplied 2026 national occupation data (median annual salary, employment, and projected national employment growth) alongside metro-level median salary, employment counts where available, and the LaborCove Geography Score. The LaborCove Geography Score is an aggregate indicator that produces a single comparable value and ranking for each metro. This article does not break down how individual metrics contribute to the score, because that weighting is not supplied here. Instead, we treat the score and rank as given, and we compare them with the available salary and employment figures for each of the top 10 metros. Because projected employment growth is supplied only at the national level, we use the 4.3% figure strictly as national context for the occupation, not as a metro- or state-level projection. Rankings and scores should be interpreted as one input into a broader decision that also considers personal, professional, and non-labor-market factors outside the scope of this dataset.