Across the 29 states we track, Massachusetts gives Project Managers the strongest cost-of-living-adjusted pay: about $107,300 real pay on a median of $116,200. Washington follows at about $98,700 real pay, then Colorado at about $93,600. The table ranks every state by real pay, so a high nominal salary in an expensive state cannot masquerade as a raise.
Project Manager Salary by State (2026): Real Pay Ranked
Massachusetts ranks first for Project Manager real pay: about $107,300 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
$78,400
Project Manager pay by state, ranked by real pay
| State | Median pay | Real pay (COL-adjusted) | Metro(s) counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Massachusetts | $116,200 | $107,300 | Boston |
| 2. Washington | $109,700 | $98,700 | Seattle |
| 3. Colorado | $96,600 | $93,600 | Denver, Colorado Springs |
| 4. North Carolina | $86,400 | $88,300 | Raleigh, Charlotte |
| 5. New York | $95,100 | $84,500 | New York |
| 6. District of Columbia | $77,200 | $70,900 | Washington |
| 7. Texas | $69,300 | $70,800 | Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, El Paso |
| 8. Illinois | $72,100 | $69,600 | Chicago |
| 9. Maryland | $72,600 | $69,500 | Baltimore |
| 10. Pennsylvania | $70,000 | $68,200 | Philadelphia |
| 11. Wisconsin | $65,000 | $67,100 | Milwaukee |
| 12. Nebraska | $61,700 | $67,100 | Omaha |
| 13. Tennessee | $61,700 | $65,400 | Nashville, Memphis |
| 14. Indiana | $62,400 | $65,200 | Indianapolis |
| 15. Kentucky | $60,000 | $64,400 | Louisville |
| 16. Georgia | $64,100 | $64,000 | Atlanta |
| 17. Arizona | $63,700 | $63,600 | Phoenix-Mesa, Tucson |
| 18. Missouri | $58,000 | $62,700 | Kansas City |
| 19. California | $68,500 | $62,200 | Los Angeles-Long Beach, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco-Oakland, Fresno, Sacramento |
| 20. Oklahoma | $55,600 | $61,900 | Oklahoma City, Tulsa |
| 21. Michigan | $61,800 | $61,600 | Detroit |
| 22. Florida | $65,600 | $61,400 | Jacksonville, Miami |
| 23. Minnesota | $64,000 | $61,100 | Minneapolis |
| 24. Nevada | $60,800 | $60,700 | Las Vegas |
| 25. Oregon | $62,000 | $58,800 | Portland |
| 26. Kansas | $50,700 | $57,000 | Wichita |
| 27. New Mexico | $54,000 | $56,500 | Albuquerque |
| 28. Ohio | $49,000 | $51,300 | Columbus |
| 29. Louisiana | $47,000 | $50,800 | New Orleans |
Method: each state aggregates the BLS OEWS metro medians we track for Project Manager 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 $107,300 real pay (median $116,200), ahead of Washington at about $98,700.
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 Project Manager salary hub at /salary/project-manager/.