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Best cities for building inspectors

Rank every metro by what matters to you: pay, buying power, rent and job market

Best cities for building inspectors, balanced Our calculation

With balanced priorities, Anchorage, AK ranks first for building inspectors: $106,780 median pay worth $101,290 after local prices. We ranked all 338 metros with published building inspector pay on pay, buying power, rent burden, job market size and unemployment.

  1. 1
    AnchorageALASKA · AK · $106,780 median · $101,290 buying power · rent 13% of pay · 160 jobs
    85
  2. 2
    LafayetteLOUISIANA · LA · $83,780 median · $96,068 buying power · rent 13% of pay · 100 jobs
    84
  3. 3
    MinneapolisMINNESOTA · MN · $94,420 median · $90,077 buying power · rent 18% of pay · 940 jobs
    84
  4. 4
    RochesterMINNESOTA · MN · $96,840 median · $106,627 buying power · rent 14% of pay · 50 jobs
    84
  5. 5
    Green BayWISCONSIN · WI · $82,170 median · $88,273 buying power · rent 15% of pay · 70 jobs
    83
  6. 6
    HartfordCONNECTICUT · CT · $99,620 median · $96,958 buying power · rent 19% of pay · 750 jobs
    83
  7. 7
    FargoNORTH DAKOTA · ND · $78,880 median · $86,804 buying power · rent 14% of pay · 60 jobs
    82
  8. 8
    NorwichCONNECTICUT · CT · $102,130 median · $101,678 buying power · rent 18% of pay · 110 jobs
    81
  9. 9
    Iowa CityIOWA · IA · $78,030 median · $85,270 buying power · rent 15% of pay · 60 jobs
    80
  10. 10
    AmesIOWA · IA · $79,740 median · $89,767 buying power · rent 14% of pay · 40 jobs
    80
  11. 11
    Sioux FallsSOUTH DAKOTA · SD · $78,410 median · $86,516 buying power · rent 16% of pay · 60 jobs
    80
  12. 12
    MilwaukeeWISCONSIN · WI · $77,220 median · $79,660 buying power · rent 16% of pay · 470 jobs
    79
  13. 13
    Idaho FallsIDAHO · ID · $79,770 median · $84,491 buying power · rent 16% of pay · 80 jobs
    79
  14. 14
    SpokaneWASHINGTON · WA · $86,140 median · $85,843 buying power · rent 16% of pay · 230 jobs
    78
  15. 15
    RochesterNEW YORK · NY · $77,340 median · $79,703 buying power · rent 18% of pay · 690 jobs
    77

Default weights: buying power 4, pay 3, rent 3, job market 2, unemployment 2. Change them below to re-rank.

Top 5 by each factor Government data

Highest pay

  1. San Jose, CA: $129,750
  2. San Francisco, CA: $125,130
  3. Santa Maria, CA: $112,550
  4. Vallejo, CA: $108,180
  5. Anchorage, AK: $106,780

Most buying power

  1. San Jose, CA: $117,503
  2. San Francisco, CA: $108,232
  3. Rochester, MN: $106,627
  4. Santa Maria, CA: $103,449
  5. Norwich, CT: $101,678

Lowest rent burden

  1. Anchorage, AK: 13% of pay for a 1-bed
  2. Lafayette, LA: 13% of pay for a 1-bed
  3. Elizabethtown, KY: 13% of pay for a 1-bed
  4. Ames, IA: 14% of pay for a 1-bed
  5. Paducah, KY: 14% of pay for a 1-bed

Most jobs

  1. New York, NY: 10,340 employed
  2. Dallas, TX: 5,450 employed
  3. Houston, TX: 4,980 employed
  4. Miami, FL: 4,380 employed
  5. Washington, DC: 4,060 employed

See every metro on the building inspector overview.

What matters to you? Our calculation

Each metro gets a percentile for every factor (compared with all metros for this trade), weighted by your sliders. Nothing is estimated: metros missing a figure are scored on the factors they have.

Pay and jobs: BLS OEWS May 2025. Buying power: BEA 2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. How we calculate

How the ranking works →

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