Across the 29 states we track, Massachusetts gives Financial Analysts the strongest cost-of-living-adjusted pay: about $119,200 real pay on a median of $129,100. New York follows at about $112,700 real pay, then North Carolina at about $104,200. The table ranks every state by real pay, so a high nominal salary in an expensive state cannot masquerade as a raise.
Financial Analyst Salary by State (2026): Real Pay Ranked
Massachusetts ranks first for Financial Analyst real pay: about $119,200 after cost of living. Median and real pay for all 29 states, ranked.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS) & BEA Regional Price Parities · Updated October 2026
States ranked
29
Metros counted
45
National average
$112,950
Financial Analyst pay by state, ranked by real pay
| State | Median pay | Real pay (COL-adjusted) | Metro(s) counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Massachusetts | $129,100 | $119,200 | Boston |
| 2. New York | $126,900 | $112,700 | New York |
| 3. North Carolina | $101,900 | $104,200 | Charlotte, Raleigh |
| 4. Wisconsin | $99,400 | $102,600 | Milwaukee |
| 5. California | $112,900 | $102,500 | Los Angeles-Long Beach, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco-Oakland, Fresno, Sacramento |
| 6. Illinois | $102,500 | $98,900 | Chicago |
| 7. Ohio | $92,800 | $97,200 | Columbus |
| 8. Minnesota | $101,500 | $96,900 | Minneapolis |
| 9. Oregon | $101,800 | $96,600 | Portland |
| 10. District of Columbia | $104,400 | $95,900 | Washington |
| 11. Colorado | $98,100 | $95,100 | Denver, Colorado Springs |
| 12. Washington | $104,900 | $94,400 | Seattle |
| 13. Pennsylvania | $94,700 | $92,300 | Philadelphia |
| 14. Maryland | $95,000 | $90,900 | Baltimore |
| 15. Texas | $87,600 | $89,500 | Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, El Paso |
| 16. Tennessee | $84,100 | $89,200 | Nashville, Memphis |
| 17. Nebraska | $81,700 | $88,900 | Omaha |
| 18. Indiana | $83,900 | $87,700 | Indianapolis |
| 19. Missouri | $81,100 | $87,700 | Kansas City |
| 20. Oklahoma | $78,200 | $87,100 | Oklahoma City, Tulsa |
| 21. Michigan | $85,700 | $85,400 | Detroit |
| 22. New Mexico | $80,900 | $84,700 | Albuquerque |
| 23. Georgia | $84,000 | $83,900 | Atlanta |
| 24. Kansas | $74,100 | $83,400 | Wichita |
| 25. Arizona | $82,500 | $82,400 | Phoenix-Mesa, Tucson |
| 26. Florida | $86,100 | $80,600 | Jacksonville, Miami |
| 27. Nevada | $80,100 | $79,900 | Las Vegas |
| 28. Louisiana | $58,800 | $63,500 | New Orleans |
| 29. Kentucky | $58,400 | $62,700 | Louisville |
Method: each state aggregates the BLS OEWS metro medians we track for Financial Analyst in that state - an employment-weighted mean where every counted metro publishes employment (25 of 29 states), otherwise a simple mean (4 states). Real pay = state median divided by (state RPP / 100), where the state RPP is the mean BEA Regional Price Parity of its counted metros; figures are rounded to the nearest $100. Twin cities sharing one metro estimate (for example Phoenix-Mesa) are counted once. Arlington, TX and Cleveland, OH metros lack a cost-of-living index in our dataset and are excluded from their state's figures. States without a tracked metro are omitted rather than estimated.
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Frequently Asked Questions
On cost-of-living-adjusted pay, Massachusetts leads at about $119,200 real pay (median $129,100), ahead of New York at about $112,700.
We aggregate the BLS median wages of the metros we track in each state (an employment-weighted mean where employment data exists, otherwise a simple average), then divide by the mean Regional Price Parity of those metros to get real pay.
The full city-level table with 10th-90th percentiles and every metro's cost-of-living index is on the Financial Analyst salary hub at /salary/financial-analyst/.