What are the most affordable cities for finance workers to live in? And does that even matter? After all, pursuing a career in finance can be rewarding where your bottom line is concerned. Personal financial advisors, for example, earned a median income of just over $90,640 in 2017, while financial managers topped $125,080 in median annual pay. Both of those figures are well above the national median household income of $62,175.

Nevertheless, while working in the financial sector can prove lucrative, it helps to be in a place where good jobs are plentiful and you can take home the most salary possible after paying for taxes and housing. If you live in a city with a high cost of living, you may find that your paychecks aren’t stretching as far as you’d like. Swapping your home base for a cheaper locale could improve your financial situation.

The Best Cities for Finance Workers

If you’re wondering where the best places to live are, you’re in luck. LinkedIn and Zillow recently published a list of the most attractive cities for workers in the finance industry. To come up with the list of the 15 cities that offer finance professionals the most bang for their buck, Zillow and LinkedIn analyzed several specific data metrics for 30 major metro markets, including:

  • Income Tax Rates
  • After-Tax Income for Finance Jobs
  • Median Rental Prices
  • Median Home Values
  • The Number of Available Job Openings
  • Hiring Rates

In crunching the numbers, they were able to determine which housing markets allowed finance workers to hang onto the largest percentage of their income after deducting the cost of housing. This table lists the cities that proved to be the most affordable, for both renters and homeowners:


City

Percent of Disposable Income Remaining After Rent

Dollar Amount of Disposable Income Remaining After Rent

Percent of Disposable Income Remaining After Mortgage

Dollar Amount of Disposable Income Remaining After Mortgage

Ranking

Charlotte, N.C.

52.3%

$3,685

61.3%

$4,318

1

Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas

53.4%

$3,597

64.8%

$4,362

2

Phoenix, Ariz.

50.6%

$3,249

58.0%

$3,723

3

Boston

41.7%

$3,198

52.7%

$4,043

4

Chicago

48.8%

$3,453

61.1%

$4,322

5

New York City

37.6%

$3,142

48.1%

$4,021

6

Seattle

51.0%

$4,163

57.1%

$4,657

7

Austin, Texas

51.4%

$3,495

61.3%

$4,170

8

Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.

47.8%

$3,429

57.5%

$4,128

9

San Francisco Bay Area

30.1%

$2,794

32.3%

$2,991

10

Pittsburgh

56.2%

$3,582

65.2%

$4,155

11

Denver

41.5%

$2,761

51.2%

$3,409

12

Nashville, Tenn.

55.9%

$3,715

65.9%

$4,379

13

Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla.

53.7%

$3,085

65.5%

$3,762

14

Washington, D.C., Metro Area

39.1%

$3,121

47.9%

$3,819

15

Some of these cities are ones you’d expect to make the list. Charlotte, for example, has become a major financial hub along the East Coast, with Bank of America headquartered there. Other cities may seem more surprising. Take Dallas, for example, which is notable for playing host to leading companies in the defense and tech industries but isn't as known for finance. Dallas offers finance professionals reasonably priced housing and a lower than average cost of living. New York, on the other hand, has a high cost of living, but it also has many jobs and a high income for finance jobs, the two factors that likely landed it on the list.

The Bottom Line

As the data shows, where you choose to live can have a significant impact on your wallet. Whether you’re just starting out or are an established professional, opting for a change in scenery requires some research beforehand. Comparing the salary you anticipate earning to the cost of keeping a roof over your head can help you find a new hometown that will be best for your budget.