Adjusting Nonprofit Pay for Location (Metro Differentials)

Data as of: BLS OEWS May 2025 (aged to Oct 2026) · Last updated October 23, 2026

To adjust nonprofit pay for location, find what your metro pays for the same role as a percentage of the national median, then scale the role's national range by that percentage. Do it role by role, because one metro can sit far apart for different jobs: in the BLS May 2025 data, San Francisco pays registered nurses 191% of the national median and administrative assistants 130%, while Pittsburgh and Kansas City sit below national for all four roles shown here.

How do we adjust a salary range for our metro?

1. Pick the metro where the job is based. Use the metro area, not the state, when the job sits in one. Metro pay can differ a lot from the statewide figure.
2. Compare the metro to national for that role. Express the metro's median for the role as a percentage of the national median for the same role. National = 100.
3. Apply it to the whole range. A metro at 120, as Boston is for accountants, moves the minimum, midpoint and maximum of a national range up by 20%. A metro at 92, as Pittsburgh is for accountants, moves each point down by 8%.
4. Repeat for each role. Do not carry one role's percentage to another role, even in the same metro.

CauseComp Workforce does steps 2 and 3 for you when you choose a metro area, and it names the geography each figure rests on: metro area, statewide or US national.

How much does nonprofit pay vary between metros?

Across the ten metros below, the four roles range from 85% of national to 191%. San Francisco, New York, Boston, Washington, DC and Denver sit above national for all four roles; Pittsburgh and Kansas City sit below it for all four.

Metro median as a percentage of the national median for the same role (national = 100), BLS OEWS May 2025. Rounded to the nearest whole number. Metro areas are the BLS metropolitan statistical areas named for these cities.

Why is one location adjustment not enough for every role?

Because each occupation has its own local market. In Denver, accountants are paid 119% of the national median but software developers 101%. In Chicago, administrative assistants sit above national at 106 while accountants sit just below it at 98. In New York, registered nurses, accountants and software developers sit at 123 to 126, but administrative assistants at 108.

A single cost-of-living or cost-of-labor factor for the whole organization would overpay some roles and underpay others. Price each role in its own metro.

Should we use metro, state or national data?

Use the narrowest geography that has enough data for the role. A metro figure describes the labor market the job actually hires from. Where a metro has few workers in a role, CauseComp Workforce leans on the statewide figure, and it labels which geography it used. Use national data only when a role is not tied to one place.

How was this calculated?

Each figure comes from the CauseComp Workforce benchmark, with Benchmark Type "Nonprofit", no field chosen, mid-career level and no budget size entered. The metro figure is the benchmark with the metro area chosen; the national figure is the benchmark with "National (No State Adjustment)". The percentage is the metro median divided by the national median.

Both figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, aged to the current month with the BLS Employment Cost Index. Aging moves both by the same factor, so it does not change the percentage. Every figure shown rests on a metro cell with 10,000 or more workers in the role, the confidence standard CauseComp's public salary pages use. The full method is on the methodology page.

Where can we see pay for our state or role?

• Nonprofit salary benchmarks by role and workforce salary benchmarks, including registered nurse pay.
• Executive director pay by state: California, New York, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Colorado, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Missouri and Pennsylvania.
• To build the ranges themselves, see how to set salary ranges at a nonprofit and the Workforce benchmark guide. For how pay in each nonprofit field compares with the all-employer median, role by role, see do nonprofit fields pay less?

Frequently asked questions

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Looking for a report rather than one role's figure? Read the 2026 Nonprofit Compensation Report, CauseComp's analysis of IRS Form 990 compensation filings.

Sources

• BLS: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
• BLS: Employment Cost Index (ECI)