Do you adjust employee salary based on their location?
Private companies pay the highest salaries in San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and New York, according to Carta's latest look at the state of startup compensation. But many other cities aren't far off. Base salaries in more than two dozen other metro areas are at least 80% of what they are in San Francisco.
Part of the reason for pay differentials across metro areas is to account for differences in cost of living. Buying a home and raising a family in San Francisco is a more expensive endeavor than in most other cities. For the 84% of companies on Carta that adjust their compensation by location, doing so aims to tie wages to the local cost of labor and ensure that workers filling the same role in different cities are paid in a way that allows them to achieve similar standards of living.
Startup salaries vs. cost of living
The chart below ranks cities with at least 75% of San Francisco's base salaries from least to most affordable for startup workers, using the following metrics:
- % San Francisco salaries: The average percent of San Francisco salaries that startup employees receive in each metro, according to Carta Total Comp data.
- % San Francisco cost of living: The average percent each metro scored in three proxies for cost of living and spending power: median household income, median gross rent, and the EPI's family budget calculator.
- SCI score: The differential between each city's percent of San Francisco salaries and its average percent of San Francisco's cost of living.
| Metro |
% SF salaries |
% SF cost of living |
SCI score
|
| San Francisco |
100% |
100% |
0 |
| San Jose |
100% |
99% |
1 |
| Oxnard, CA |
85% |
73% |
12 |
| San Diego |
91% |
76% |
15 |
| Santa Maria, CA |
86% |
70% |
16 |
| Boston |
94% |
77% |
17 |
| Seattle |
100% |
79% |
21 |
| Tampa |
75% |
53% |
22 |
| Washington, DC |
97% |
74% |
23 |
| Boulder |
92% |
69% |
23 |
| Las Vegas |
75% |
52% |
23 |
| Nashville |
80% |
55% |
25 |
| Denver |
91% |
65% |
26 |
| Orlando |
80% |
54% |
26 |
| Minneapolis |
85% |
58% |
27 |
| Atlanta |
84% |
57% |
27 |
| Phoenix |
81% |
54% |
27 |
| New York |
100% |
72% |
28 |
| Los Angeles |
94% |
65% |
29 |
| Portland |
93% |
64% |
29 |
| Charlotte |
85% |
56% |
29 |
| Austin |
91% |
61% |
30 |
| Bridgeport |
85% |
55% |
30 |
| Salt Lake City |
84% |
53% |
31 |
| San Antonio |
80% |
47% |
33 |
| Philadelphia |
86% |
52% |
34 |
| Baltimore |
85% |
51% |
34 |
| Provo, UT |
80% |
46% |
34 |
| Chicago |
92% |
56% |
36 |
| Dallas |
87% |
51% |
36 |
| Miami |
90% |
53% |
37 |
| Houston |
88% |
48% |
40 |
| St. Louis |
85% |
44% |
41 |
| Cleveland |
85% |
37% |
48 |
View the underlying chart data and methodology.
Read the entire city-by-city guide here: https://carta.com/blog/startup-salaries-cost-of-living/
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Colleen Lowder
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