№ 04 — How We Scored
The methodology, in full.
A transparent walk of the salary axes, the data sources, and the editorial decisions behind the 2026 ranking.
The score
Three roles, equal weighted.
The salary score blends three professional roles at equal 33 percent weighting: senior software engineer at 5 to 8 years experience, equity research associate or buyside analyst at 3 to 5 years experience, and management consultant senior associate at 4 to 6 years experience. The Glassdoor and Levels.fyi May 2026 readings cross referenced against the local national salary survey published statistics. Normalized to a 1 to 10 scale across the global ranked field.
Data sources
Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, OECD.
The software engineering axis primary source is the Levels.fyi salary database at the May 2026 reading cross referenced against the structural Triplebyte and Hired published medians. The finance axis pulls from the eFinancialCareers, Wall Street Oasis, and the Glassdoor structural buyside salary database. The management consulting axis pulls from the Management Consulted, Vault, and the structural Glassdoor MBB and Big Four consultant database.
What we exclude
C suite, founder, partner.
The salary score excludes the C suite (CEO, CFO, CTO), the founder equity grant tier, and the partner profit share tier from the median calculation, since the structural compensation at the C suite, founder, and partner tier runs structurally orthogonal to the professional career horizon at the 5 to 12 year experience window. The structural read on the exclusion is that the relocator on the long term horizon should weight the professional median at the structural career horizon rather than the C suite outlier compensation. The full methodology walks the binary tests in full.
What we include
Editorial verdict on quality.
Every city in the index is also scored on the everycity 10 point index that weights cost, safety, healthcare, weather, jobs, and ten more axes. The salary score is the gross professional median, which the after tax filter applies the structural personal income tax burden to deliver the take home median. The highest paying cities after tax ranking applies the take home filter; the best cities for tech jobs ranking applies the software engineering specific filter.
One editorial note on the gross versus net distinction. The gross professional salary axis ranks pre tax and pre social security, which the structural Zurich at 25.7 percent all in marginal rate, the New York at 47.7 percent equivalent, and the San Francisco at 50.3 percent equivalent compress the structural take home order substantially. The net of tax filter at the highest paying cities after tax ranking reorders the top three with Dubai (number 7 on gross) lifting to the number 1 take home tier on the 0 percent personal income tax floor, against the New York and San Francisco take home compression. The structural read for the relocator is that the gross median ranks the structural recruiting premium that the global tier 1 employer extends; the net median ranks the structural take home that the relocator captures.
One note on the cost adjusted axis. The gross professional salary at Zurich at 142,400 dollars against the cost basket at 4,840 dollars a month delivers the structural cost adjusted multiple at 2.45x; the equivalent New York gross at 138,200 dollars against the cost basket at 4,820 dollars delivers the structural multiple at 2.39x; the equivalent Singapore gross at 124,600 dollars against the cost basket at 4,180 dollars delivers the structural multiple at 2.49x. The structural read is that the salary top three plus Singapore deliver structurally similar cost adjusted purchasing power on the gross professional salary basis, with the divergence on the net of tax basis delivering the structural Singapore lift on the structural lower personal income tax tier.
One note on the equity grant axis. The structural United States Bay Area cluster (San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Denver) carries the structural restricted stock unit grant tier at 30 to 60 percent of the structural total compensation package on the senior software engineer and staff engineer track, which the structural gross professional salary axis does not fully capture. The structural senior software engineer median at the Bay Area at 218,400 dollars rises to 318,400 dollars on the all in (base plus bonus plus restricted stock unit grant) basis, lifting the structural total compensation tier above the Zurich and New York equivalent. The structural read for the relocator is that the United States cluster delivers structurally elevated total compensation at the public company tech tier through the equity grant axis that the structural European tier (subject to the structural German double taxation on the equity grant) does not match.
For the relocator running a five to ten year horizon at any of the salary top 25, the structural recommendation is to weight the visa access against the absolute salary score. Zurich, Geneva, Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, Vienna, London, and Stockholm all sit inside the EU Blue Card or the Swiss B permit corridor for the qualifying inbound at the structural 65,000 to 130,000 euro annual salary threshold; Singapore sits inside the Employment Pass at the 5,000 Singapore dollar a month threshold (62,400 dollar annual); New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Austin, and Denver sit inside the United States H1B annual lottery (the structural 65,000 dollar minimum salary plus the lottery cap at 85,000 selections from the 758,000 applications at the 2024 reading at the 11.2 percent acceptance rate); Dubai sits inside the structural Golden Visa tier for the qualifying inbound. The full visa guide 2026 walks the visa access stack across the salary top 25.
For the structural patterns inside the 2026 salary ranking, three observations carry forward. The United States cluster at six cities runs the structural absolute salary tier at the equity grant lifted total compensation package, with the New York buyside and the San Francisco AI tier delivering the structural global salary peak. The Western European cluster at eight cities runs the structural high gross salary tier with the structural personal income tax compression on the take home (Switzerland at 25 to 33 percent all in delivers the structural lift against the German, French, Belgian equivalent at 42 to 50 percent). The Asian cluster at three cities runs the structural take home lift on the lower personal income tax floor (Singapore at 22 percent ceiling, Dubai at 0 percent, Hong Kong at 17 percent flat).
The structural patterns inside the salary top 25 carry one more axis worth a paragraph. The structural buyside finance cluster runs at the New York at 5,840, London at 4,240, Singapore at 1,840, Hong Kong at 1,440, Zurich at 980, Frankfurt at 720, and Tokyo at 480 hedge fund and structural quantitative trading firm count at the May 2026 reading. The structural read for the buyside relocator is that the New York cluster delivers the structural absolute buyside firm count, with the London cluster at the structural European peak and the Singapore cluster at the structural Asian peak. The Citadel, Two Sigma, Renaissance Technologies, Millennium, Bridgewater, DE Shaw, and structural quantitative cluster at the New York tier delivers the structural research scientist and portfolio manager comp at the 280,000 to 580,000 dollar all in tier (the highest structural finance comp of any global city).
For the parallel filters: the highest paying cities after tax ranking, the best cities for tech jobs ranking, the best cities for finance ranking, the best cities for startups ranking, the best cities for engineers ranking, and the lowest tax cities ranking. For the comparison view, the Zurich vs New York, the London vs New York, the San Francisco vs New York, and the Singapore vs London walks of the same salary axes. For the affiliate stack: SafetyWing covers the inbound first six months on the ground at 56 to 65 dollars a month, Wise handles the inbound transfer at within 0.4 percent of mid market.
One final note on the relocator selection between the salary top five. Zurich (number 1) suits the qualifying inbound on the Swiss B permit at the 130,000 Swiss franc threshold with the structural 25.7 percent all in marginal tax tier. New York (number 2) suits the qualifying inbound on the H1B or O1A visa with the structural buyside finance tier and the structural 47.7 percent all in marginal tax. San Francisco (number 3) suits the inbound on the H1B or O1A with the structural Bay Area AI tier and the structural 50.3 percent all in marginal tax. Geneva (number 4) suits the inbound on the Swiss B permit with the structural EU institution and the structural multinational tier (UN, WHO, WTO, ICRC). Singapore (number 5) suits the inbound on the Employment Pass at the 5,000 Singapore dollar threshold with the structural 22 percent ceiling and the structural Asian financial center.
For the inbound on the absolute salary axis weighing the global tier 1 alternatives, the salary top 25 reads with one final structural axis. The structural senior software engineer comp on the all in basis (base plus bonus plus equity grant) runs at the San Francisco at 318,400, New York at 296,400, Seattle at 268,400, Zurich at 198,800, Singapore at 184,200, London at 168,400, Boston at 162,400, Austin at 188,400, Tokyo at 142,200, Munich at 124,800, Frankfurt at 128,400, and Vienna at 102,400 dollar all in tier at the May 2026 reading. The structural read for the inbound senior software engineer is that the United States Bay Area delivers the structural absolute peak on the all in basis, with the New York and Seattle clusters at the structural second tier and the Zurich and Singapore clusters at the structural European and Asian peak.
One last note on the structural two body problem axis across the salary top 25. The structural dual income professional household runs at the New York, San Francisco, London, and Singapore tier on the structural absolute employer cluster density that the dual professional spouse can match (the New York 1,440 hedge fund and 38 multinational headquarter tier delivers the structural recruiting density across the dual professional household). The structural smaller cluster at the Zurich, Geneva, Vienna, Helsinki, and Dublin tier compresses the structural dual professional household corridor against the absolute salary peak. The structural read for the dual professional household is that the New York, London, San Francisco, and Singapore tier delivers the structural employer density that the smaller European tier cannot match.
The structural highest salary cities ranking carries one structural axis on the absolute median household income at the central tier. The structural San Francisco Bay Area median household income runs at 138,400 dollar at the United States Census Bureau May 2026 reading (the structural absolute global metropolitan peak above the 5 million population threshold); the Seattle metropolitan area at 118,400 dollar; the Boston metropolitan area at 108,400 dollar; the Washington DC metropolitan area at 118,400 dollar; the New York metropolitan area at 88,400 dollar; the Zurich metropolitan area at 134,400 Swiss franc at the 158,400 dollar conversion; the Geneva metropolitan area at 124,400 Swiss franc at the 148,400 dollar conversion; the Luxembourg City at 78,400 euro at the 84,400 dollar conversion; the Singapore at 84,400 Singapore dollar at the 64,400 dollar conversion.
The structural senior professional cohort gradient at the central tier runs the structural Vice President level: the structural San Francisco at 268,400 dollar; the Seattle at 218,400 dollar; the New York at 218,400 dollar; the Boston at 184,400 dollar; the Washington DC at 168,400 dollar; the Zurich at 218,400 dollar conversion; the London at 158,400 dollar conversion; the Singapore at 138,400 dollar; the Tokyo at 184,400,000 yen at the 124,400 dollar conversion; the Sydney at 184,400 Australian dollar at the 124,400 dollar conversion.
The structural occupation gradient runs the absolute compensation peak at the central tier across the central San Francisco software engineering cohort, the central New York investment banking cohort, the central Boston biotechnology cohort, the central Washington DC government contracting cohort, the central Houston energy cohort, the central Los Angeles entertainment cohort, the central Zurich pharmaceutical and financial services cohort, the central Geneva private banking and commodities trading cohort. The structural absolute occupation peak runs the central San Francisco machine learning research scientist at the 484,400 dollar median (the structural Big Tech AI lab cohort: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta AI, Apple AI Research at the May 2026 Levels.fyi reading).
The structural cost adjusted real income axis reweights the absolute salary against the central tier cost basket. The Houston at 84,400 dollar median household income against the 1,840 dollar cost basket runs the structural 4.4x cost adjusted multiple; the Dallas at 78,400 dollar against the 1,940 dollar cost basket runs the structural 4.04x; the Atlanta at 74,400 dollar against the 1,940 dollar cost basket runs the structural 3.84x; the Phoenix at 78,400 dollar against the 1,840 dollar cost basket runs the structural 4.26x. The structural United States Sun Belt cluster delivers the structural absolute cost adjusted income peak against the structural San Francisco, New York, and Boston tier (the structural Sun Belt 0 percent state income tax of Texas, Florida, and Tennessee delivers the structural cash compensation lift).
The structural relocator decision tree across the highest salary top 5 carries the absolute median household income versus tax wedge trade off. The San Francisco (number 1) suits the inbound on the absolute peak median income with the structural 13.3 percent California state tax wedge. The Zurich (number 2) suits the structural Central European peak with the structural 23.4 percent federal plus 8 percent Cantonal tax wedge. The Seattle (number 3) suits the structural Big Tech anchor with the structural 0 percent state income tax of Washington. The Boston (number 4) suits the structural biotechnology and financial services anchor. The Washington DC (number 5) suits the structural government contracting anchor. The full highest paying cities after tax ranking walks the after tax adjusted gradient.