Best States for Logisticians: California Tops Overall, but Several Rivals Pay More

Across the top 10 states, the data shows that higher salary, larger employment, and a higher LaborCove Geography Score do not always align in a simple way. California, for example, ranks #1 overall with the largest employment count, but Washington has a higher median salary. Several states have median salaries above the national median, yet they differ substantially in how many logisticians they currently employ. Nationally, logisticians have a median annual salary of $82,320 and employment of 251,040, with projected national employment growth of 16.7%. The top-ranked states sit around this benchmark in different ways: some emphasize higher pay relative to the national median, some have much larger employment counts than others, and some achieve high LaborCove Geography Scores with comparatively small workforces. For career and relocation decisions, this means there is no single “best” pattern. Instead, the data highlights clear trade-offs among state-level salary levels, the scale of existing employment, and overall geography rankings for logisticians.

At the national level, logisticians have a median annual salary of $82,320 and employment of 251,040. In addition, national employment for this occupation is projected to grow by 16.7%. These national benchmarks help frame the state results. Each of the top 10 states can be viewed in relation to this median salary and employment context, keeping in mind that the 16.7% figure is strictly a national projection and not a state or metro forecast. Because the LaborCove Geography Score is state-specific, the national figures are used here only as a reference point, not as a competing rank or score.

California holds the #1 LaborCove rank for logisticians, with a Geography Score of 75.48. It also has the largest supplied employment count among the top-ranked states, at 32,940 logisticians. California’s median annual salary for logisticians is $92,890, which is higher than the national median of $82,320. Compared with other top-10 states, California’s salary is lower than several peers but sits above others, while its employment count is substantially larger than the other listed states. This combination of the highest LaborCove Geography Score among the top states, the largest employment count in the provided data, and a median salary above the national median helps define California’s distinctive place in the ranking.

Several states in the top 10 offer higher median salaries for logisticians than California yet rank below it in the LaborCove results. Washington, ranked #2 with a Geography Score of 59.89, has a median salary of $107,250, which is higher than both California’s $92,890 and the national median of $82,320. Maryland, ranked #3 with a Geography Score of 56.67, has a median salary of $102,700, which is also higher than California’s and above the national figure. Virginia and Massachusetts show a similar pattern. Virginia, ranked #4, has a median salary of $98,920, and Massachusetts, ranked #5, has a median salary of $100,360. Both have median salaries higher than California and higher than the national median. However, their LaborCove Geography Scores of 55.93 for Virginia and 55.38 for Massachusetts are lower than California’s 75.48. These comparisons illustrate that a higher median salary alone does not automatically translate into a higher LaborCove Geography Score or rank for logisticians. The scoring captures a broader set of factors than pay level alone.

Colorado, New Jersey, Hawaii, Alabama, and California each have distinct combinations of salary and score. Colorado, ranked #6, has a median salary of $96,090 and a Geography Score of 49.38, while New Jersey, ranked #7, has a median salary of $92,280 and a Geography Score of 48.27. Both states have median salaries higher than the national median but lower than Washington’s $107,250. Hawaii, ranked #8, has a median salary of $100,340, a Geography Score of 48.12, and employment of 570. Alabama, ranked #10, has a median salary of $98,450, a Geography Score of 47.02, and employment of 5,190. In both cases, the median salary for logisticians is higher than the national median of $82,320. These examples show that several states combine median salaries above the national level with mid-range Geography Scores within the top 10, and they underscore that salaries line up differently from both scores and employment counts.

Employment counts for logisticians vary significantly across the top 10 states. California has the largest supplied employment count at 32,940, while Texas, ranked #9 with a Geography Score of 47.05, has employment of 21,030. Both states have larger employment counts than smaller-population entries in the top 10, such as Colorado at 4,490 and Hawaii at 570. Maryland and Virginia, ranked #3 and #4, have employment counts of 6,840 and 10,540 respectively. Washington and Massachusetts, ranked #2 and #5, have employment of 5,670 and 5,250. New Jersey and Alabama, ranked #7 and #10, employ 6,280 and 5,190 logisticians in the supplied data. These differences in employment scale show that top-ranked states for logisticians can range from large markets like California and Texas to much smaller ones like Hawaii, while all still appearing in the LaborCove top 10.

The top 10 states for logisticians in this LaborCove analysis demonstrate that rankings are the product of multiple factors. California sits at #1 with the highest Geography Score among the listed states and the largest employment count, but several lower-ranked states, including Washington, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Hawaii, and Alabama, report median salaries above the national median. Because the LaborCove Geography Score is a composite, it should be interpreted as one input into your decision rather than a sole deciding factor. A state with a slightly lower rank may still align better with your preferences if, for example, its salary level or employment scale matches your goals. The national context—median annual salary of $82,320, employment of 251,040, and a 16.7% projected national growth rate—offers a backdrop for evaluating these state-level differences, but it does not predict specific state or metro trends. Using these numbers together can help you frame more precise questions about where to focus your job search or relocation research as a logistician.

LaborCove builds its rankings from authoritative labor-market data combined with the proprietary LaborCove Geography Score, which summarizes how each state performs across multiple dimensions for a given occupation. For this article, all occupational employment and wage statistics refer to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) reference period of May 2025. The report year 2026 identifies the product cycle, not the OEWS observation year. National projected employment growth of 16.7% for logisticians is a separate national projection and is not an OEWS observation. The LaborCove Geography Score and rank capture our comparative assessment of each state for logisticians based on the underlying data, but they are not a prediction of any individual’s job prospects. Rankings should be considered alongside your own priorities, such as preferred industries, specific employers, or non-work factors that are not reflected in this dataset. No state-level or metro-level projected employment growth rates are used in this analysis, and the national 16.7% projected growth rate is not assigned to any state or metro. All geographic comparisons here rely only on supplied median salaries, employment counts, ranks, and LaborCove Geography Scores.