Daily Real Estate News | July 9, 2008
Best Cities for Building Wealth
Salary.com, which provides compensation information, has ranked the best and worst cities in which to build personal wealth.
Salary.com's salary value index compares local salaries, the cost of living and unemployment rates among U.S. cities with populations greater than 250,000.
Other considerations including diversity of industry, education level of the cities' population, proximity to post secondary institutions, percent of population below the poverty level and median travel time to work.
"The most favorable cities offer the largest difference between pay and costs," says Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer.
Cities at the bottom of the list typically represent the places where living is the most expensive and pay differentials are not proportionately inflated. Cities at the top are headquarters for large companies, have appealing amenities and are growing.
Here are the five cities at the top and bottom of the list:
Best Cities to Build Personal Wealth
1. Plano, Texas
2. Aurora, Colo.
3. Omaha, Neb.
4. Minneapolis
5. Albuquerque, N.M.
Worst Cities to Build Personal Wealth
1. New York
2. Washington
3. Los Angeles
4. Honolulu
5. San Francisco
Source: Salary.com (06/30/08)
