115.1
highest state index · Washington
PaycheckForge research · updated 2026-09-03
Annual Salary Power Report 2026
Where does a paycheck carry further after taxes and broad regional price differences? We compared the same 23 occupations across all 50 states and DC—without turning one year's data into a trend claim.
Standard scenario: single filer, no 401(k), biweekly pay. Local taxes, credits, benefits and household spending are excluded. Index 100 is the middle state result within each occupation.
1,165
published occupation-state comparisons
99.3%
coverage of 1,173 possible cells
51 × 23
jurisdictions × occupations
The headline
High nominal pay and high salary power are not the same ranking.
Washington ranks first on the report's median Salary Power Index at 115.1. That score summarizes normalized results across 23 published occupations; it does not say every worker or household is better off there.
South Dakota makes the largest median jump between gross-wage rank and regional-value rank: +22.0 places. Meanwhile, Washington records a top-10 regional-value result in 19 of 23 available occupations.
Salary Power Index map
AL 95 AK 115 AZ 100 AR 93 CA 103 CO 102 CT 103 DE 99 FL 93 GA 95 HI 94 ID 99 IL 100 IN 100 IA 109 KS 98 KY 97 LA 96 ME 103 MD 97 MA 103 MI 99 MN 106 MS 93 MO 102 MT 104 NE 104 NV 102 NH 103 NJ 97 NM 102 NY 100 NC 95 ND 112 OH 105 OK 99 OR 98 PA 99 RI 100 SC 94 SD 108 TN 101 TX 98 UT 96 VT 104 VA 94 WA 115 WV 94 WI 106 WY 105 DC 100
Lowest fifth Lower Middle Higher Highest fifth
Top 10 state Salary Power Index results
The state score is the median normalized result across its available occupations. Coverage is shown so missing BLS cells stay visible rather than being silently treated as zero.
| Rank | State | Index | Occupation coverage | Top-10 finishes | BEA RPP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Washington | 115.1 | 23 / 23 | 19 | 107.0 |
| #2 | Alaska | 115.1 | 21 / 23 | 15 | 102.4 |
| #3 | North Dakota | 111.9 | 23 / 23 | 17 | 89.0 |
| #4 | Iowa | 108.6 | 23 / 23 | 12 | 87.8 |
| #5 | South Dakota | 107.9 | 22 / 23 | 12 | 88.6 |
| #6 | Wisconsin | 106.3 | 23 / 23 | 6 | 94.1 |
| #7 | Minnesota | 106.3 | 23 / 23 | 7 | 98.6 |
| #8 | Wyoming | 105.0 | 22 / 23 | 7 | 92.7 |
| #9 | Ohio | 104.9 | 23 / 23 | 9 | 92.8 |
| #10 | Vermont | 103.9 | 22 / 23 | 8 | 98.0 |
Biggest median rank gains after regional adjustment
Positive movement means the state ranks better after modeled taxes and BEA RPP adjustment than on gross wages alone.
- South Dakota+22.0 places
- Iowa+19.0 places
- North Dakota+18.0 places
- Tennessee+15.5 places
- Wyoming+13.0 places
- Ohio+13.0 places
- Nebraska+13.0 places
- Missouri+13.0 places
- Oklahoma+13.0 places
- New Mexico+11.0 places
Most frequent top-10 finishes
This counts occupations where a state lands in the top 10 for regional price-adjusted modeled take-home.
- Washington19 of 23
- North Dakota17 of 23
- Alaska15 of 21
- Iowa12 of 23
- South Dakota12 of 22
State leader for each occupation
“Leader” means the highest Salary Power Index in this standardized model—not the highest salary, the best job market or a personal relocation recommendation.
| Occupation | Leading state | Index | Regional-value net | Gross rank → regional rank | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered Nurses | Washington | 123.4 | $89,855 | #4 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education | Washington | 137.8 | $75,536 | #1 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | North Dakota | 119.4 | $57,466 | #11 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Retail Salespersons | North Dakota | 120.3 | $35,003 | #17 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Cashiers | Washington | 112.8 | $31,110 | #2 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | North Dakota | 117.6 | $36,547 | #16 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Software Developers | Washington | 122.2 | $116,898 | #2 → #1 | 50 jurisdictions |
| Accountants and Auditors | Washington DC | 111.8 | $73,502 | #1 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers | California | 129.4 | $77,206 | #1 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Electricians | Illinois | 132.0 | $74,118 | #2 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Carpenters | Illinois | 123.5 | $60,666 | #2 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers | Alaska | 139.4 | $64,187 | #1 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Dental Hygienists | Alaska | 132.4 | $99,610 | #2 → #1 | 50 jurisdictions |
| Dietetic Technicians | Oregon | 122.8 | $40,535 | #1 → #1 | 45 jurisdictions |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | North Dakota | 124.7 | $38,074 | #9 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | North Dakota | 115.7 | $45,336 | #23 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Customer Service Representatives | Iowa | 116.4 | $43,383 | #18 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | Wyoming | 113.5 | $36,662 | #8 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Cooks, Restaurant | Vermont | 118.7 | $38,347 | #5 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Construction Laborers | Hawaii | 129.2 | $53,430 | #1 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics | North Dakota | 125.3 | $54,260 | #14 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| Medical Assistants | Washington | 125.5 | $46,555 | #1 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
| General and Operations Managers | South Dakota | 145.6 | $118,731 | #3 → #1 | 51 jurisdictions |
Methodology and limitations
- Wage input: statewide annual median wages from BLS OEWS, May 2025, retrieved 2026-09-02. Missing or suppressed cells remain missing.
- Take-home model: each published median runs through the same deterministic 2026 PaycheckForge federal, FICA and state-income-tax engine using a single filer, no 401(k), biweekly baseline.
- Regional adjustment: modeled annual net is multiplied by 100 and divided by BEA state RPP, reference year 2024, retrieved 2026-09-02.
- Occupation normalization: every state result is divided by the median regional-value result for that occupation, then multiplied by 100.
- State score: the median of a state's available occupation indexes. We publish coverage beside the score.
What this report does not claim
This is a cross-sectional benchmark, not a forecast or historical trend. It does not model metro-level rent, local income tax, household composition, benefits, bonuses, credits, commuting, job openings or individual spending. It is not tax, legal, career or relocation advice.
Data and distribution kit
Open data
Download every published comparison
The CSV includes wages, modeled take-home, RPP, both rankings, the Salary Power Index and a methodology URL for all 1,165 available cells.
Embed
Use the map with attribution
The responsive map links each tile to its state paycheck calculator and includes a visible source link.
<iframe src="https://paycheckforge.com/embed/salary-power-map-2026/" title="PaycheckForge 2026 Salary Power Map" width="100%" height="650" loading="lazy"></iframe>Citation
Cite the report
PaycheckForge. “Annual Salary Power Report 2026.” Updated 2026-09-03. https://paycheckforge.com/research/annual-salary-power-report-2026/
Data compilation and PaycheckForge analysis are available under CC BY 4.0; underlying BLS and BEA data retain their source terms.
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