Salute to the Graduates 2011

By: Dave Gordon

Workers in the New York City area get paid $1.14 for every $1 earned by the average American worker. The region is the second-best paid part of the country, behind the Bay Area in California (where workers get $1.20), according to the U.S. Labor Department. New York construction workers get $1.29 for every dollar earned by the average construction worker. Construction work is among the jobs with the largest location-based pay disparities, with some workers in New York, San Jose and Chicago earning 30 percent above average, and workers in areas of Texas earning just 68 cents to the dollar.