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Best cities for sheet metal workers

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

Best cities for sheet metal workers, balanced Our calculation

With balanced priorities, Appleton, WI ranks first for sheet metal workers: $81,400 median pay worth $88,077 after local prices. We ranked the 272 metros with enough published sheet metal worker data on pay, buying power, rent burden, job market size and unemployment.

  1. 1
    AppletonWISCONSIN · WI · $81,400 median · $88,077 buying power · rent 15% of pay · 400 jobs
    90
  2. 2
    Jefferson CityMISSOURI · MO · $79,500 median · $90,367 buying power · rent 12% of pay · 310 jobs
    89
  3. 3
    Cedar RapidsIOWA · IA · $82,090 median · $92,274 buying power · rent 12% of pay · 190 jobs
    87
  4. 4
    FargoNORTH DAKOTA · ND · $80,290 median · $88,356 buying power · rent 13% of pay · 100 jobs
    85
  5. 5
    MilwaukeeWISCONSIN · WI · $78,840 median · $81,331 buying power · rent 16% of pay · 1,020 jobs
    84
  6. 6
    Kansas CityMISSOURI · MO · $82,830 median · $89,504 buying power · rent 20% of pay · 1,080 jobs
    84
  7. 7
    Green BayWISCONSIN · WI · $76,760 median · $82,461 buying power · rent 16% of pay · 280 jobs
    84
  8. 8
    St. JosephMISSOURI · MO · $83,060 median · $96,154 buying power · rent 12% of pay · 130 jobs
    83
  9. 9
    WausauWISCONSIN · WI · $77,330 median · $83,464 buying power · rent 15% of pay · 170 jobs
    83
  10. 10
    ChampaignILLINOIS · IL · $92,710 median · $100,006 buying power · rent 13% of pay · 110 jobs
    83
  11. 11
    AnchorageALASKA · AK · $98,070 median · $93,028 buying power · rent 14% of pay · 160 jobs
    82
  12. 12
    SheboyganWISCONSIN · WI · $83,220 median · $88,519 buying power · rent 13% of pay · 40 jobs
    82
  13. 13
    ClevelandOHIO · OH · $77,410 median · $82,419 buying power · rent 16% of pay · 620 jobs
    80
  14. 14
    HonoluluHAWAII · HI · $93,380 median · $84,156 buying power · rent 25% of pay · 440 jobs
    80
  15. 15
    OmahaNEBRASKA · NE · $75,440 median · $82,079 buying power · rent 19% of pay · 300 jobs
    80

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. Seattle, WA: $109,830
  2. San Jose, CA: $109,280
  3. San Francisco, CA: $102,660
  4. Olympia, WA: $100,650
  5. Atlantic City, NJ: $100,470

Most buying power

  1. Michigan City, IN: $101,819
  2. Atlantic City, NJ: $101,632
  3. Champaign, IL: $100,006
  4. San Jose, CA: $98,965
  5. Seattle, WA: $98,828

Lowest rent burden

  1. Cedar Rapids, IA: 12% of pay for a 1-bed
  2. Jefferson City, MO: 12% of pay for a 1-bed
  3. St. Joseph, MO: 12% of pay for a 1-bed
  4. Lawton, OK: 12% of pay for a 1-bed
  5. Weirton, WV: 12% of pay for a 1-bed

Most jobs

  1. New York, NY: 6,080 employed
  2. Dallas, TX: 2,890 employed
  3. Houston, TX: 2,610 employed
  4. Phoenix, AZ: 2,550 employed
  5. Los Angeles, CA: 2,440 employed

See every metro on the sheet metal worker overview.

What matters to you? Our calculation

Pick a quick start or set your own weights. Each metro gets a percentile for every factor (compared with all metros for this trade), weighted by your sliders. Nothing is estimated: a metro needs at least 4 of the 5 figures published to be ranked, and results show when one is missing.

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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