Best States for ‘All Other’ Managers: California Tops Overall, Massachusetts Pays the Most

Across the top LaborCove-ranked states for Managers, all other, the data show that high pay, sizable employment, and a strong overall Geography Score do not always align in the same way. California leads the ranking with the highest Geography Score and the largest employment count in the group, while Massachusetts reports the highest median salary but ranks second overall. Several states have median salaries above the national figure of $141,900, but differ substantially in how many positions are reported. Texas stands out for pairing a large employment count with a median salary just below the national benchmark. Together, these contrasts give a more structured view of how the top states balance compensation, scale, and overall LaborCove performance for this occupation, within a national market that is projected to grow at 4.5% overall.

For Managers, all other, the national median annual salary is $141,900. Several of the top-ranked states have higher reported median salaries. Massachusetts reports a median of $182,950, and Colorado reports $171,140, both above the national figure. California’s median salary of $174,560 and New York’s $167,200 are also above the national median. New Jersey and Washington report median salaries of $161,510 and $164,160, respectively, which are higher than the national median. Maryland, at $159,040, also sits above the national benchmark. Among the top ten, Texas reports a median salary of $134,390 and Hawaii $130,000, both below the national median of $141,900. On the employment side, national employment for this occupation is 622,190. Within the top-ranked states, California has 99,580 reported positions and Texas has 61,410, both representing substantial state employment counts compared with peers in this group, while remaining well below the national total as expected for individual states.

California holds the #1 LaborCove ranking for Managers, all other, with a Geography Score of 84.63. That score is higher than the scores of the other top-ten states listed. California also reports the highest median salary in this group except for Massachusetts, at $174,560, which is above the national median of $141,900. California’s employment count of 99,580 for this occupation is the largest among the top-ranked states, and it is identified as the largest employment market in the supplied data. This employment level is higher than that of Texas, which reports 61,410, and higher than New Jersey’s 30,270. Compared with Massachusetts at 10,630 and Washington at 10,490, California’s employment figure is substantially larger. Within this top-ten group, California couples the highest Geography Score with both a median salary above the national benchmark and the largest reported employment count. This combination distinguishes it numerically from the other states in the ranking, even though several peers report median salaries that are also above the national figure.

Massachusetts is ranked #2 for Managers, all other with a LaborCove Geography Score of 59.49. Its median annual salary of $182,950 is higher than the median in any other state listed in the top ten. Massachusetts also sits above the national median salary of $141,900 by a wide margin. However, Massachusetts ranks below California in the overall LaborCove Geography Score, as California’s score of 84.63 exceeds Massachusetts’ 59.49. This demonstrates that the LaborCove rankings do not simply mirror the highest salary results; other factors within the Geography Score contribute to the final ordering. Massachusetts reports 10,630 employed Managers, all other, a smaller employment count than states such as California at 99,580, Texas at 61,410, New Jersey at 30,270, New York at 18,470, and Virginia at 21,560. The combination of very high salary with a more moderate Geography Score and a smaller employment count relative to several peers illustrates how different metrics can diverge for a high-paying state.

Texas holds the #5 rank with a LaborCove Geography Score of 56.43, a median salary of $134,390, and employment of 61,410. Its median salary is below the national median of $141,900, yet Texas has the second-largest employment count in this group after California’s 99,580. This places Texas numerically closer to California than to states such as Massachusetts or Washington in terms of employment scale. New Jersey is ranked #3 with a Geography Score of 56.87, a median salary of $161,510, and employment of 30,270. Its median salary is higher than both the national median and Texas’s $134,390, but its employment count is smaller than Texas’s 61,410 and California’s 99,580. New York, ranked #4 with a Geography Score of 56.48, has a median salary of $167,200 and employment of 18,470, again above the national salary benchmark but with a smaller employment count than New Jersey. Virginia, ranked #7 with a Geography Score of 54.05, reports a median salary of $166,230 and employment of 21,560. Its median salary is higher than the national figure and higher than Texas’s $134,390, while its employment count is larger than Massachusetts’ 10,630 and Washington’s 10,490 but smaller than California’s 99,580 and Texas’s 61,410. These four states illustrate how mid-ranking positions in the LaborCove results can reflect different pairings of salary and employment levels.

Colorado ranks #6 with a LaborCove Geography Score of 54.79, a median salary of $171,140, and employment of 14,060. Its median salary is higher than the national median of $141,900 and higher than Texas’s $134,390, while its employment count is smaller than New Jersey’s 30,270 and Virginia’s 21,560 but larger than Washington’s 10,490. Washington, ranked #8 with a Geography Score of 51.44, reports a median salary of $164,160 and employment of 10,490. Its median salary is above the national median and higher than Texas’s $134,390, but its employment count is smaller than that of Colorado at 14,060 and Virginia at 21,560. Maryland, ranked #9 with a Geography Score of 51.35, reports a median salary of $159,040 and employment of 17,530, giving it a higher employment count than Colorado’s 14,060 but a smaller one than New Jersey’s 30,270. Hawaii holds the #10 rank with a LaborCove Geography Score of 50.50 and a reported median salary of $130,000, which is below the national median of $141,900. Employment for this occupation in Hawaii is not supplied in the data, so no direct comparison can be made for job counts. Even so, Hawaii’s inclusion in the top ten indicates that its overall Geography Score is competitive within this group despite having the lowest reported median salary among these ten states.

Nationally, Managers, all other have a projected employment growth rate of 4.5%. This projection applies to the occupation across the entire country and is not broken out for individual states in the data supplied here. Because geographic projected growth is not available, the LaborCove state rankings for this occupation focus on present-day metrics: median salaries, employment counts, and Geography Scores. The examples above show that a state can rank higher overall while not having the highest salary, or can feature a strong salary result but rank below a state with a higher Geography Score. For readers comparing locations, these findings highlight that the “best” state in LaborCove’s ranking is defined by the combination of metrics reflected in the Geography Score, rather than by a single dimension such as the highest median pay or the largest employment count. The national data provide the broader backdrop against which these state differences can be evaluated.

LaborCove builds these state comparisons from structured labor‑market evidence for the occupation Managers, all other (SOC 11-9199). National figures for median annual salary, employment, and projected employment growth are treated as nationwide occupational context. The projected employment growth rate of 4.5% is a national projection only and is not applied to individual states. State rankings in this article rely on LaborCove Geography Scores alongside state-level median salaries and employment counts supplied for this occupation. Geography Scores are composite measures produced by LaborCove; they allow states to be ranked, but the precise weighting of salary, employment, or other inputs inside the score is not disclosed here. All salary figures are median annual earnings, and all employment counts represent the number of jobs in the underlying data for Managers, all other. These values are based on Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) observations with a reference period of May 2025. The 2026 report year reflects when the data product is published, not when the OEWS data were collected. Because geographic projected employment growth is not supplied, this article does not estimate or compare growth rates for individual states. Rankings and Geography Scores should be considered alongside each reader’s own priorities, such as preferred industries or regions, which are outside the scope of the LaborCove data used here.