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What Is the Average Salary in New York

Average Salary in New York (2026)

New York averages $102,700, but pay runs from $177,944 in Manhattan to $54,236 in Herkimer. See all counties and roles, free.

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NEW YORK SALARY SNAPSHOT

The short version

The numbers that matter before hiring and budgeting for employees in New York.

$102.7K NY State average salary
25.9% Above the US average
6–10% Statutory payroll cost
2–4 weeks Typical EOR payroll setup
01

New York State averages about $102,700 a year

That is around $1,975 a week, based on BLS QCEW Q4 2025 data, and 25.9% above the US average of $81,588.

02

The state average is misleading on its own

Only 5 of New York’s 18 largest counties pay above the US average. Manhattan averages $177,944, while Herkimer County sits at $54,236 — a 3.3× spread within the same state.

03

New York City is not one labour market

Manhattan averages $177,944 while Brooklyn averages $64,584. Using a Manhattan salary band for a Brooklyn hire could mean paying roughly 2.7× more.

04

Employer payroll costs add roughly 6%–10%

The percentage falls as salaries rise because SUI and FUTA are capped. A practical fully loaded employment cost is roughly 1.25× to 1.40× base salary.

05

The legal salary floor is not negotiable

Minimum wage is $17.00/hour downstate and $16.00/hour upstate. The salary threshold to keep an executive or administrative employee exempt from overtime is $66,300/year in NYC, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester.

06

You do not need a US entity to pay a New York salary

An employer of record in the USA can employ the worker, run compliant New York payroll and manage the employment administration in roughly two to four weeks.

BOTTOM LINE

Do not budget for New York using one statewide salary figure. Price the role by location first, then add payroll taxes and employment costs to calculate the real hiring budget.

If you are building a compensation band for a New York hire, the number you need is not “the average salary in New York”. New York State is the third highest paying jurisdiction in the country and also contains counties that pay below the national median. This guide gives you the county-level, role-level, and industry-level figures that a benchmark actually needs, plus the statutory floors and the real employer cost on top of base pay. It sits alongside our national average salary in the US benchmark and our state guides for California, Texas, and Florida.

What is the average salary in New York in 2026?

NEW YORK SALARY SNAPSHOT

New York salaries sit well above the US average.

The average salary in New York State is approximately $102,700 a year, based on an average weekly wage of $1,975 in the fourth quarter of 2025.

AVERAGE SALARY $102.7K per year
↑ 25.9% vs US average
03
3rd highest New York ranks third nationally by wage level.
$1,569
US weekly average Compared with New York’s $1,975 per week.
5.4%
Annual wage growth The fourth-fastest growth rate in the country.

Only the District of Columbia at $2,587 a week and Massachusetts at $1,980 a week recorded higher average wages.

Those figures come from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages release for New York, published 12 June 2026. QCEW is the strongest source for a state-level average because it counts actual wages reported by employers for more than 95% of covered jobs, rather than sampling job postings or self-reported salaries.

There is a second official number worth knowing. The New York State Department of Labor computes the New York State Average Weekly Wage (NYSAWW) for benefits purposes, and set it at $1,922.25 for calendar year 2025, which annualises to $99,957. Use QCEW for benchmarking and NYSAWW when you are calculating statutory benefit entitlements, because that is the figure the state itself applies.

Why the two numbers differ: NYSAWW covers a full calendar year, while the $1,975 figure is a single quarter. Fourth quarters in New York are inflated by financial services bonuses, which is exactly why the next section matters.

Why is the average salary in New York higher than what most New Yorkers earn?

!
WHY THE AVERAGE MISLEADS

Manhattan pulls New York’s statewide salary average sharply upward.

Only 5 of New York’s 18 largest counties have average weekly wages above the US average of $1,569, while 8 of the state’s 62 counties average less than $1,125 a week.

5 / 18

The typical New York worker earns considerably less than the statewide mean.

This is the single most common benchmarking error we see. A compensation team reads “$102,700” and builds a band around it, then discovers that the band is 60% too high for a Syracuse role and 40% too low for a Manhattan one.

What to do instead: anchor to the county, not the state. New York publishes county-level wage data quarterly, and the New York State Department of Labor maintains an occupational wage dashboard covering roughly 830 job titles across 10 labour market regions. Both are free.

If you are also modelling cost rather than just pay, our guide to accurately calculating employee cost walks through the difference between base salary, statutory load, and fully loaded cost.

How much does the average salary in New York vary by county?

LOCATION CHANGES EVERYTHING
3.3×

salary difference within the same state

MANHATTAN $177,944 per year
$3,422 / week
VS
HERKIMER COUNTY $54,236 per year
$1,043 / week
BROOKLYN $64,584

Even Kings County (Brooklyn), despite being part of New York City, averages just $1,242 a week — below the US average.

The table below annualises the Q4 2025 QCEW average weekly wage for every large New York county plus a selection of smaller ones. This is the table to hand a hiring manager who wants to know what “market rate” means for a specific office location.

NEW YORK COUNTY WAGE COMPARISON

How salaries vary across New York

Average weekly and annualised wages compared with the US average.

County (main city or borough) Avg weekly wage Annualised vs US average
New York (Manhattan) $3,422 $177,944 +118%
Westchester (White Plains) $1,916 $99,632 +22%
Albany (Albany) $1,746 $90,792 +11%
Nassau (Long Island) $1,634 $84,968 +4%
Suffolk (Long Island) $1,634 $84,968 +4%
Rensselaer (Troy) $1,608 $83,616 +2%
United States average $1,569 $81,588 Baseline
Onondaga (Syracuse) $1,508 $78,416 -4%
Schenectady (Schenectady) $1,451 $75,452 -8%
Dutchess (Poughkeepsie) $1,448 $75,296 -8%
Erie (Buffalo) $1,424 $74,048 -9%
Bronx (Bronx) $1,417 $73,684 -10%
Tompkins (Ithaca) $1,415 $73,580 -10%
Queens (Queens) $1,410 $73,320 -10%
Monroe (Rochester) $1,360 $70,720 -13%
Rockland (New City) $1,354 $70,408 -14%
Richmond (Staten Island) $1,350 $70,200 -14%
Broome (Binghamton) $1,279 $66,508 -18%
Orange (Newburgh) $1,279 $66,508 -18%
Oneida (Utica) $1,264 $65,728 -19%
Kings (Brooklyn) $1,242 $64,584 -21%
Niagara (Niagara Falls) $1,198 $62,296 -24%
Chautauqua (Jamestown) $1,110 $57,720 -29%
Allegany (Belmont) $1,047 $54,444 -33%
Herkimer (Herkimer) $1,043 $54,236 -34%

If your New York hire is remote and county-agnostic, the same role can be staffed anywhere on this table. The difference between an Albany hire and a Manhattan hire on comparable market pay is roughly $87,000 a year before you add employer costs.

What is the average salary in New York City?

There is no single New York City average that is useful for benchmarking, because the five boroughs range from $177,944 in Manhattan to $64,584 in Brooklyn. Across the wider New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area, the mean hourly wage was $41.50 in May 2025, which annualises to $86,320 at 2,080 hours.

The metro figure comes from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release for New York-Newark-Jersey City. It is 23.7% above the national mean of $33.54 an hour. But the metro definition spans 22 counties across two states, including all of Long Island and much of northern New Jersey, so it flattens exactly the variation you are trying to price.

Which New York City borough has the highest average salary?

Manhattan, by a wide margin. New York County averages $3,422 a week, which ranks fourth among the 372 largest counties in the United States. Brooklyn, the borough with the most employed residents after Manhattan, averages $1,242 a week, roughly 2.8 times less.

NYC BOROUGH WAGE COMPARISON

How salaries differ across New York City

Average weekly wages, annualised pay and year-on-year wage growth by borough.

Borough (county) Avg weekly wage Annualised YoY wage growth
Manhattan (New York) $3,422 $177,944 +5.6%
Bronx (Bronx) $1,417 $73,684 +5.0%
Queens (Queens) $1,410 $73,320 +4.3%
Staten Island (Richmond) $1,350 $70,200 +4.5%
Brooklyn (Kings) $1,242 $64,584 +1.7%

Why Manhattan distorts everything: financial activities drove an average weekly wage increase of $491 in New York County over the year, a 7.5% jump in that sector alone. If you are not hiring into finance, legal, or executive roles, the Manhattan number is not your benchmark even if your office is in Manhattan.

What salary does someone need to live comfortably in New York City?

Independent estimates put the comfortable single-adult income for New York City between roughly $100,000 and $140,000 a year. SmartAsset’s 50/30/20 analysis puts it at about $136,656, while more conservative estimates that assume roommates or an outer-borough apartment land closer to $100,000. New York City’s median household income sits well below both.

Why this matters to an employer, not just a candidate: offer acceptance and 12-month retention in New York City track affordability, not headline pay. A band built off the state average will lose candidates in Manhattan and overpay in Brooklyn. Pair the county figure with the borough your office actually sits in, and expect counter-offers if your band opens below six figures for a Manhattan-based professional role.

Three layers of income tax apply to a New York City employee: federal, New York State (4% to 10.9% for 2026), and New York City resident tax (3.078% to 3.876%). Yonkers residents pay a surcharge of 16.75% of state liability. Take-home is materially lower than the same gross salary elsewhere in the country, which is a real factor in offer negotiations.

What is the average salary in upstate New York?

Upstate metros pay below the national average. Rochester averaged $32.41 an hour in May 2025 ($67,413 annualised) and Buffalo-Cheektowaga averaged $31.96 ($66,477), against a US mean of $33.54 ($69,763). The Capital Region is the exception: Albany County averages $90,792 a year, 11% above the US figure.

UPSTATE NEW YORK WAGE CHECK

How Rochester and Buffalo compare with the US mean

Mean hourly wages and annualised pay based on 2,080 working hours.

Upstate area Mean hourly wage Annualised at 2,080 hrs vs US mean
United States $33.54 $69,763 Baseline
Rochester metro $32.41 $67,413 -3%
Buffalo-Cheektowaga metro $31.96 $66,477 -5%

Detail for these markets is in the Buffalo OEWS release and the Rochester OEWS release. Both metros have healthcare practitioner shares well above the national average (7.4% of local employment against 6.3% nationally), so if you are hiring clinical or clinical-adjacent roles upstate you are competing in a deeper but tighter market than the headline wage suggests.

The upstate arbitrage: an Albany-based hire costs roughly half a Manhattan-based hire on market pay, and the entire state operates under the same employment law, the same state income tax, and the same statutory benefits. For a fully remote role, the only thing changing is the county wage benchmark and the minimum wage tier.

What is the average salary in New York by job role?

Management roles in the New York metro average $196,850 a year, more than double the all-occupations mean of $86,320. Chief executives average $392,410, financial managers $250,570, and computer and information systems managers $224,990. At the other end, food service managers average $93,730.

NEW YORK METRO SALARY BENCHMARKS

Management salaries across New York

Mean annual wages, employment levels and location quotients for key management roles.

Role (New York metro) Mean annual wage Employment Location quotient
Chief executives $392,410 7,180 0.58
Financial managers $250,570 89,960 1.75
Sales managers $233,770 44,870 1.15
Computer & information systems managers $224,990 62,430 1.53
Marketing managers $207,770 54,730 2.27
Human resources managers $204,790 18,480 1.37
Advertising & promotions managers $202,940 3,630 2.77
Compensation & benefits managers $199,050 2,420 1.73
Architectural & engineering managers $197,060 7,580 0.56
Medical & health services managers $193,180 35,260 0.97
General & operations managers $189,200 177,850 0.83
Construction managers $162,800 12,120 0.52
Education administrators, K-12 $153,550 20,920 1.04
Property & real estate managers $120,390 14,250 0.75
Food service managers $93,730 10,000 0.69

Read the location quotient column before you set a band. Advertising and promotions managers sit at 2.77 and marketing managers at 2.27, meaning New York holds more than double the national share of these roles. That is a deep talent pool and it gives you negotiating room. Construction managers sit at 0.52 and architectural and engineering managers at 0.56, so those roles are scarcer locally than the national baseline and you should expect to pay toward the top of the range.

For a role-by-role view of a very different market, compare against our average salary in India by job role benchmark.

What is the average salary in New York by industry?

Legal is the highest paying occupational group in the New York metro at $182,686 a year, followed by computer and mathematical at $139,443 and healthcare practitioners at $129,459. Healthcare support is the lowest at $43,493, followed by food preparation and serving at $46,218.

NEW YORK OCCUPATIONAL WAGE PREMIUM

How New York pay compares with the US

Mean hourly wages across major occupational groups, with annualised New York pay and the premium over US wage levels.

Occupational group Mean hourly (NY) Annualised Mean hourly (US) NY premium
Management $94.64 $196,850 $69.84 +36%
Legal $87.83 $182,686 $67.07 +31%
Computer & mathematical $67.04 $139,443 $57.73 +16%
Healthcare practitioners & technical $62.24 $129,459 $52.26 +19%
Business & financial operations $57.35 $119,288 $45.78 +25%
Architecture & engineering $54.27 $112,882 $51.36 +6%
Arts, design, entertainment & media $52.51 $109,221 $38.36 +37%
Life, physical & social science $49.81 $103,605 $45.48 +10%
All occupations $41.50 $86,320 $33.54 +24%
Educational instruction & library $39.71 $82,597 $32.47 +22%
Construction & extraction $39.49 $82,139 $31.42 +26%
Sales & related $36.03 $74,942 $26.43 +36%
Installation, maintenance & repair $34.50 $71,760 $30.44 +13%
Community & social service $34.29 $71,323 $30.49 +12%
Protective service $32.22 $67,018 $29.19 +10%
Office & administrative support $28.72 $59,738 $24.79 +16%
Transportation & material moving $27.92 $58,074 $23.96 +17%
Production $26.02 $54,122 $24.81 +5%
Building & grounds cleaning $23.02 $47,882 $19.66 +17%
Personal care & service $22.46 $46,717 $19.74 +14%
Food preparation & serving $22.22 $46,218 $17.86 +24%
Healthcare support $20.91 $43,493 $19.62 +7%

The New York premium is not uniform, and that is the useful finding. Arts and media (+37%), management (+36%), and sales (+36%) carry the largest premium over national pay. Production (+5%) and architecture and engineering (+6%) carry almost none. If you are hiring production or engineering roles, New York is close to a national-rate market and the location premium you may have budgeted for probably is not there.

What is the minimum salary you can legally pay in New York in 2026?

$17.00 an hour in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, and $16.00 an hour everywhere else in New York State, effective 1 January 2026. Home care aides have a separate statutory rate of $19.65 an hour downstate. From 2027, increases are tied to a three-year average of the applicable regional consumer price index rather than a fixed schedule.

NEW YORK MINIMUM WAGE 2026

Minimum wage rates across New York

The applicable rate depends on where the employee works.

Category NYC, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester Rest of New York State
General minimum wage (2026) $17.00 / hour $16.00 / hour
2025 rate (for comparison) $16.50 / hour $15.50 / hour
Home care aide minimum $19.65 / hour Regional rate applies
Annualised at 2,080 hours $35,360 $33,280

For context on how this compares internationally, see our minimum wage by country reference.

What salary must you pay to keep a New York employee exempt from overtime?

$1,275.00 a week, or $66,300.00 a year, in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, and $1,199.10 a week, or $62,353.20 a year, in the rest of the state, effective 1 January 2026. This applies to executive and administrative exemptions. New York sets no state salary threshold for the professional exemption, so the federal floor of $684 a week ($35,568 a year) applies there.

NEW YORK EXEMPT SALARY THRESHOLDS

2026 executive and administrative exemption levels

Salary thresholds differ between downstate New York and the rest of the state.

Exemption test NYC, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester Rest of New York State
Executive / administrative (2026) $1,275.00 / week $1,199.10 / week
Annualised $66,300.00 $62,353.20
2025 threshold $1,237.50 / week $1,161.65 / week
Year-on-year increase +$1,950.00 / year +$1,947.40 / year
Professional exemption Federal $684 / week Federal $684 / week

Two traps worth flagging. First, the salary test is only half the requirement: the employee must also pass the duties test for that exemption, and paying $66,300 to someone whose duties do not qualify does not make them exempt. Second, New York’s thresholds run at nearly double the federal level, so a US-wide exempt band set at the federal floor will misclassify every New York employee it touches. Misclassification exposure in New York carries a six-year statute of limitations.

If you are weighing whether a New York role should be an employee at all, our guide to employee versus contractor classification sets out the tests, and gig workers versus independent contractors covers the adjacent grey area.

What does a New York salary actually cost an employer?

Statutory employer payroll taxes run roughly 6% to 10% of base salary in New York, and the percentage falls as salary rises because unemployment insurance and FUTA are capped at low wage bases. On a $100,000 New York salary, mandatory employer taxes come to about $8,414, or 8.4%, before disability cover, workers’ compensation, health benefits, or retirement. Fully loaded cost typically lands at 1.25x to 1.40x base.

Which payroll taxes does a New York employer actually pay?

NEW YORK PAYROLL CHARGES 2026

Employer payroll taxes and statutory charges

Key federal and New York payroll charges, contribution limits and who is responsible for each cost.

Charge Rate (2026) Wage base / threshold Who pays
Social Security (OASDI) 6.2% First $176,100 Employer + employee
Medicare 1.45% All wages Employer + employee
FUTA (after state credit) 0.6% First $7,000 Employer only
NY unemployment insurance 4.1% new employer First $17,600 Employer only
NY UI, experienced employers 1.7% to 9.5% First $17,600 Employer only
Re-employment Service Fund 0.075% First $17,600 Employer only
MCTMT (Zone 1, NYC boroughs) 0.055% to 0.895% Payroll over $312,500/qtr Employer only
MCTMT (Zone 2, suburbs) 0.055% to 0.635% Payroll over $312,500/qtr Employer only
Disability Benefits Law (DBL) Carrier premium Employee may fund $0.60/wk Mostly employer
Paid Family Leave (PFL) 0.432% Capped at $411.91/yr Employee only

The most common error on this list is Paid Family Leave. PFL is funded by an employee payroll deduction of 0.432% of wages, capped at $411.91 for the year. It is not an employer cost, and budgets that include it overstate the employer burden. Details are in New York Publication NYS-50.

How much does a New York employee cost at different salary levels?

NEW YORK EMPLOYER COST EXAMPLE

How statutory payroll cost changes as salary rises

Social Security, Medicare, FUTA and New York unemployment insurance shown across common salary levels.

Base salary Social Security Medicare FUTA + NY UI Statutory total As % of salary
$50,000 $3,100 $725 $764 $4,589 9.2%
$75,000 $4,650 $1,088 $764 $6,502 8.7%
$100,000 $6,200 $1,450 $764 $8,414 8.4%
$150,000 $9,300 $2,175 $764 $12,239 8.2%
$177,944 Manhattan average $10,918 $2,580 $764 $14,262 8.0%
$250,000 $10,918 $3,625 $764 $15,307 6.1%
9.2% → 6.1%

The statutory cost percentage falls as salary rises. Social Security and unemployment taxes are capped, so they do not increase indefinitely with base salary.

The regressive shape is the planning insight. Because unemployment insurance is capped at $17,600 of wages and Social Security at $176,100, the statutory employer rate drops from 9.2% on a $50,000 hire to 6.1% on a $250,000 hire. Ten junior hires cost proportionally more in payroll tax than two senior ones on the same total payroll.

Add MCTMT if your total payroll expense across the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District exceeds $312,500 in a quarter. Below that threshold you owe nothing at all, not a reduced amount, which means a single Brooklyn hire on a small payroll usually attracts no MCTMT. Above it, the tax is charged on payroll expense rather than per employee, banded from 0.055% to 0.895% in the five boroughs.

For the full cost-modelling method, including benefits and overhead layers, see our guide to calculating employee cost and reduction strategies and our complete guide to global payroll.

Do you have to publish a salary range in a New York job posting?

Yes. New York State’s Pay Transparency Law requires employers with four or more employees to include a good-faith salary or wage range in any advertisement for a job, promotion, or transfer that will be performed at least partly in New York. The obligation covers remote roles that report to a New York office, which catches many out-of-state employers who assume it does not apply to them.

What this changes for benchmarking: your band becomes public the moment you post. Competitors, current employees, and candidates can all read it. That makes an accurate county-level benchmark a competitive requirement rather than a nice-to-have, because a posted range that is visibly below the local market signals weakness, and one visibly above it resets your internal equity across the whole team.

Practical rule: build the range from the county figure in the table above, widen it by the location quotient for that role, and be ready to defend both ends. New York City has its own parallel requirements under the city’s pay transparency provisions, so a Manhattan posting is subject to both.

Pay equity, posting compliance, and record-keeping all sit inside the same workflow. Our guide to global HR compliance with an EOR covers how these obligations are handled when the employer of record is the legal employer.

How does a New York salary compare with hiring the same role elsewhere?

A New York hire is one of the most expensive in the world on base salary, but its statutory employer load is comparatively light. New York employer payroll taxes run about 6% to 10% of salary. In India, statutory employer contributions such as provident fund at 12% of basic pay and gratuity accrual of roughly 4.81% push the percentage higher, on a far lower absolute base.

This matters when you are deciding where a role should sit rather than what it should pay. A role priced at the Manhattan average of $177,944 is a genuinely different capital allocation from the same role staffed elsewhere, and the statutory load percentage is the smaller half of that decision.

If you are running that comparison seriously, our average salary in India versus the USA analysis sets out the pay gap by role, cost of hiring employees in India and employer costs in India break down the statutory side, and the fully loaded employee cost in India model gives you a like-for-like total. There is also a free employee cost calculator for India if you want a quick number.

One caution. Cost is not the only variable. Time zone overlap with New York, the seniority of the talent pool for your specific function, and the compliance overhead of a second jurisdiction all change the answer. Our complete guide to global hiring and comprehensive guide to global workforce management cover how to weigh those against pay.

How do you hire and pay a New York salary without setting up a US entity?

FASTEST ROUTE TO COMPLIANT PAYROLL

Use an employer of record

An EOR already holds New York State registrations for withholding, unemployment insurance, and wage reporting, and becomes the legal employer of your New York hire. You keep day-to-day direction of the work.

WITH AN EOR 2–4 weeks to first compliant payroll
vs
SET UP YOURSELF 3–6 months to incorporate, register and open banking

Registering directly in New York means filing Form NYS-100 through New York Business Express for unemployment insurance, withholding, and wage reporting, then filing the combined quarterly return NYS-45, reporting every new hire within 20 calendar days, and tracking MCTMT liability quarter by quarter. Liability for New York unemployment insurance begins once you pay $300 or more in a calendar quarter. None of that is difficult in isolation; the cost is that it never stops.

When does an EOR make sense for a New York hire, and when does it not?

Recommended for faster hiring

Use an EOR when

Best if you want speed, less setup work, and compliant hiring without a US entity.

  • You are hiring one to twenty people in New York and have no US entity.
  • You need the person working inside four weeks.
  • The role is a genuine employee under New York and federal tests, not a contractor.
  • You want New York exempt thresholds, pay transparency, and MCTMT handled by someone who does it daily.
Recommended for long-term scale

Set up your own entity when

Better if your New York operation is becoming larger, more strategic, or more regulated.

  • New York headcount is heading past roughly fifty and per-employee EOR fees exceed entity overhead.
  • You need to grant US equity, hold US contracts, or raise US capital.
  • Your business is regulated in a way that requires a licensed US legal entity.

If you are new to the model, start with what an employer of record is and our EOR services complete guide. To compare structures, read EOR versus PEO and employer of record versus a staffing agency. On selection, use our how to choose an employer of record framework and the EOR vetting checklist. For pricing benchmarks, see how much a PEO costs.

Sector-specific shortlists: best EOR services for startups, best EOR for SaaS companies, and best EOR for remote-first companies. The mechanics of how an EOR actually runs the payroll are covered in EOR payroll and what is global payroll

Frequently asked questions about New York salaries

  • What is a good salary in New York State in 2026?

    Anything above roughly $102,700 is above the state average, but the honest answer depends on the county. In Herkimer County, $80,000 is well above the local average of $54,236. In Manhattan, the same $80,000 is less than half the local average of $177,944. Benchmark against the county, not the state.

  • Is $100,000 a good salary in New York City?

    It is comfortable in Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx, and tight in Manhattan. $100,000 is well above the Brooklyn average of $64,584 and well below the Manhattan average of $177,944. After federal, state, and city income tax, take-home on $100,000 in New York City is roughly $65,000 to $68,000.

  • What is the average hourly wage in New York?

    $41.50 an hour across the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area as of May 2025, against a national mean of $33.54. Upstate metros run lower: Rochester at $32.41 and Buffalo at $31.96.

  • Which county in New York has the highest average salary?

    New York County, that is Manhattan, at $3,422 a week or $177,944 a year. It ranks fourth among the 372 largest counties in the United States. Westchester is second in the state at $99,632 and Albany third at $90,792.

  • Which county in New York has the lowest average salary?

    Herkimer County, at $1,043 a week or $54,236 a year. Allegany County is close behind at $54,444. Both sit roughly a third below the US average.

  • How fast are New York salaries growing?

    New York wages grew 5.4% over the year to Q4 2025, the fourth fastest rate of any state, against a national average of 4.2%. Growth was uneven by county: Broome grew 7.7% and Erie 7.3%, while Brooklyn grew just 1.7%.

  • Do I need a US entity to pay someone a salary in New York?

    No. An employer of record in the USA can employ and pay your New York hire on your behalf, holding the state registrations and filing NYS-45 returns. This is the standard route for foreign companies making their first one to twenty US hires.

  • What is the difference between the average and median salary in New York?

    The average is inflated by a small number of very high earners concentrated in Manhattan finance and legal roles. The median, the midpoint where half of workers earn more and half earn less, is materially lower. For benchmarking a specific role in a specific county, use the county figure rather than either statewide number.

Sources and methodology

All wage figures on this page come from US government primary sources. Annualised figures are calculated by multiplying the reported average weekly wage by 52, or the reported mean hourly wage by 2,080 hours, and are labelled as such. QCEW fourth quarter 2025 data are preliminary and subject to revision.

Minimum wage and exempt salary thresholds reflect the New York State Department of Labor wage orders effective 1 January 2026. Employer tax rates reflect 2026 federal and New York State rates. This page is general guidance and is not legal, tax, or accounting advice. Verify your own experience-rated unemployment insurance notice and confirm current thresholds with the relevant agency before you file. Questions about a specific New York hire can go through our contact page.

Sarah Whitfield

Written by

Sarah Whitfield

Senior US Employment and HR Tech Analyst · 12+ years experience

Sarah leads US employment and HR technology coverage for Peorient. Former in-house HR Director at a 400-person fintech across 22 states and senior HR-tech analyst at G2 Crowd, where she built the review methodology for the payroll and HRIS categories. SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CPP. MILR, Cornell ILR.

Multi-state US payroll HRIS migration 1099 vs W-2 PEO selection