Best States for Financial and Investment Analysts in 2026

Across the 2026 data for financial and investment analysts, the top 10 states show that high pay, large employment counts, and higher CareerGPS Geography Scores do not always appear in the same place. All listed states share the same projected growth rate, so differences in rankings reflect contrasts in salary, employment, and the combined Geography Score outcome. New York leads the 2026 state rankings with the highest CareerGPS Geography Score among the listed states, the largest supplied employment count, and a median salary that is well above the national figure. California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington also sit above the national median salary but differ in Geography Scores and employment scale. Wyoming stands out for having the highest median salary reported among the top 10 states while ranking third overall and having a much smaller employment count than the largest markets. Texas and Florida illustrate that states with sizable employment counts can still show median salaries below the national benchmark and mid‑range Geography Scores. Because every top‑10 state carries the same projected 5.7% growth rate, the CareerGPS Geography Scores help distinguish how each state compares when salary and employment are viewed together. The result is a set of states that may fit different priorities, depending on whether you put more weight on higher salary figures, larger employment counts, or the overall CareerGPS ranking.

At the national level, financial and investment analysts have a 2026 median annual salary of $102,740 and total national employment of 361,980. This provides a reference point for evaluating state‑level salary and employment figures. Several top‑10 states have median salaries above this national benchmark. New York’s median salary of $127,930, California’s $109,110, Connecticut’s $109,500, Massachusetts’s $111,040, New Jersey’s $108,610, and Washington’s $107,210 all exceed the national median. Illinois, Texas, and Florida have median salaries below the national figure. The largest state employment count reported among the top 10 is New York’s 52,380 financial and investment analyst roles, compared with total national employment of 361,980. California follows with 45,380, while Texas (28,820), Florida (23,900), and Illinois (20,520) report smaller employment counts than California and New York but still larger counts than Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Wyoming in this dataset.

New York ranks #1 among states in the CareerGPS Pro results for financial and investment analysts, with a Geography Score of 68.70. This is the highest Geography Score in the supplied top‑10 list. The state’s median salary of $127,930 is also higher than the national median of $102,740. New York has the largest reported employment count among the top‑ranked states, at 52,380 financial and investment analysts. This employment figure is larger than the counts for California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Wyoming in the supplied data. Even though Wyoming reports a higher median salary, New York’s overall CareerGPS Geography Score is higher, which is why it ranks ahead of Wyoming in the 2026 state rankings. This illustrates that a state with the very highest salary for this occupation does not automatically receive the top CareerGPS ranking when other metrics are considered in the scoring model.

California holds the #2 spot in the CareerGPS Pro ranking with a Geography Score of 59.72. Its median salary of $109,110 is higher than the national median and lower than New York’s median salary. California’s employment count of 45,380 is smaller than New York’s 52,380 but larger than the reported counts for Texas, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Wyoming. Other coastal states in the top 10 also show median salaries above the national benchmark. Massachusetts has a median salary of $111,040 and a Geography Score of 41.90, while New Jersey’s median salary is $108,610 with a Geography Score of 37.53. Washington’s median salary is $107,210 and its Geography Score is 35.76. In the rankings, Massachusetts places #6, New Jersey #7, and Washington #10. Connecticut, ranked #5 with a Geography Score of 42.13, reports a median salary of $109,500. That salary is higher than California’s and higher than New Jersey’s and Washington’s in the supplied data. Employment for Connecticut is not supplied, so we can compare it here only on salary, Geography Score, and rank.

Wyoming is notable in this dataset for its median salary of $187,090 for financial and investment analysts. This is higher than the median salaries reported for all other top‑10 states listed here, including New York, California, and Massachusetts, and it is well above the national median of $102,740. Despite that high salary figure, Wyoming ranks #3 rather than #1, with a CareerGPS Geography Score of 51.01. Its Geography Score is lower than New York’s 68.70 and California’s 59.72 but higher than the scores for Texas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, Florida, and Washington in this dataset. Wyoming’s reported employment count of 190 financial and investment analysts is much smaller than the employment figures supplied for New York, California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington. This makes Wyoming an example of a state where the salary data stand out strongly even though the overall rank and employment count differ from the largest markets.

Texas ranks #4 for financial and investment analysts with a Geography Score of 44.05 and a median salary of $99,150. This median salary is below the national figure and below the median salaries reported for New York, California, Wyoming, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, and Washington. Texas has an employment count of 28,820, which is smaller than New York’s 52,380 and California’s 45,380 but larger than the counts reported for Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Wyoming. Illinois ranks #8 with a Geography Score of 37.34 and a median salary of $101,180, slightly below the national median. Its employment count of 20,520 is smaller than Texas’s 28,820 and Florida’s 23,900 but larger than the counts reported for Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Wyoming. Florida, ranked #9 with a Geography Score of 36.21, has a median salary of $94,490, which is below both the national median and Illinois’s median. Florida’s employment count of 23,900 sits between Texas and Illinois in this dataset. Washington completes the top‑10 list at #10, with a Geography Score of 35.76. Its median salary of $107,210 is above the national median and below New York’s, Wyoming’s, Massachusetts’s, California’s, Connecticut’s, and New Jersey’s salaries. Washington’s employment count of 8,820 is smaller than the reported employment in New York, California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, and Massachusetts but larger than the counts for New Jersey and Wyoming.

All 10 states in this ranking share the same projected growth rate of 5.7% for financial and investment analysts in 2026. This means that within this top‑10 group, growth does not differentiate one state from another. Because the growth rate is identical across these states, the CareerGPS Geography Scores and ranks depend on other factors in the model, including salary and employment counts. For example, New York and California have higher Geography Scores and higher ranks than Wyoming, even though Wyoming reports the highest median salary in the list. For career planning, this uniform projected growth places more emphasis on how you weigh salary, current employment scale, and a state’s overall Geography Score when comparing these top 10 states for financial and investment analysts.

CareerGPS Pro builds these state rankings for financial and investment analysts using authoritative labor‑market data for 2026. For this occupation, we combine median annual salary, employment counts, projected growth rates, and other inputs into a CareerGPS Geography Score for each state. States are then ordered by their Geography Score to produce the rankings shown here. New York ranks #1 among the supplied states with a Geography Score of 68.70, and California ranks #2 with a score of 59.72. All top‑10 states share the same projected growth rate of 5.7% for this occupation, so differences in score and rank come from how the other inputs interact in the CareerGPS methodology. These rankings are a starting point, not a personalized recommendation. Career seekers should weigh the Geography Scores and underlying salary and employment figures alongside their own goals and any non‑labor‑market factors that matter to them, such as family ties or personal preferences, which are outside the scope of this dataset.