Best Cities for Project Managers

Several factors make a city a good place for aspiring Project Managers. This article discusses some factors that make a city one of the best for Project Managers.

What Makes a City Good for Project Managers?

Job Opportunities

You should consider current job opportunities for Project Managers in the city. Remember that PMI expects 22 million Project Manager jobs to be added in the next five years, which means that the number of Project Manager jobs will likely grow in every city and state. 

The industries expected to increase Project Manager positions the most are Construction and Manufacturing, Information Services and Publishing, Management and Professional Services, Utilities, and Oil and Gas. Cities where these industries are very present or growing are more likely to add Project Management positions. For example, Las Vegas is considered a hot city for Project Managers because it has a higher rate of construction than any other city. 

For example, while Wisconsin isn’t the state with the most Project Manager jobs or the highest salaries, it has the fastest growth in Project Management jobs, with a 40% increase since 2021. 

High Salaries

Across industries, Project Managers make above-average salaries. The average salary for a Project Manager is around $100,000, which is double the national average salary across occupations. You’ll need to focus on salaries that don’t just exceed the national average but also exceed the much higher average for Project Managers.

According to Forbes, New Mexico is the state with the highest average salary for Project Managers at nearly $125,000. Washington is close behind at around $120,000, and the 3rd highest state, New York, pays Project Managers around $112,00. Certain states, such as Wisconsin and Washington, have seen salary increases of 40% for Project Managers since 2020. The average salary for a Project Manager in New Mexico rose 35%, from $90,000 in 2020 to around $125,000 in 2021. 

Even higher salaries for Project Managers are offered by certain companies, including Meta, Google, Cisco, Apple, Salesforce, Microsoft, Amazon, and American Express. The top ten companies for Project Manager salaries all offer salaries above the national average of $100,000 for a Project Manager. For example, Meta pays its Project Managers around $200,000 a year. A Project Manager at Google earns an average salary of around $170,000. 

Salary ranges at top companies can vary: for example, Project Managers at Apple make from $90,000 to $300,000 per year. At Google, Project Managers earn from $100,000 to $250,000. 

Strong Project Manager Community

You might want to consider whether your city has a strong community of Project Managers. One easy way to check is to see if PMI has a local chapter. For example, if you live in Texas, you can find local PMI chapters in San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo, Dallas, and Houston. A local PMI chapter provides a local Project Manager community and professional network. 

International Opportunities for Project Managers

Project management is seeing massive growth across the globe, which means that there are job opportunities for Project Managers all over the world. Some countries experiencing huge increases include China, India, Japan, Brazil, Germany, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. China alone is expected to add over 1 million Project Manager jobs by 2027. 

Some of the top international cities for Project Managers:

• Shanghai: Project Managers are needed to manage the billions invested in megaprojects and infrastructure, including the Shanghai Urban Rail, Huawei Research & Development Center, Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory, and LEGOLAND Park & Resort. 
• Sydney: There are over 10,000 open jobs for Project Managers in Sydney. Project Managers are needed for construction projects on the Sydney Metro and a Sustainable Sydney by 2030 initiative. Construction Project Managers are especially in high demand in Australia. 
• Tokyo: Project Managers proved their worth in Tokyo during the recent Olympics, creating demand for Project Managers on the Nihonbashi District Redevelopment, the Takanawa Gateway, and the Garden Promenade.
• Brisbane, Australia: There are more than 3,000 positions for Project Managers in the region for projects such as the Bruce Highway Upgrade, The Cross River Rail, and the Brisbane Airport development. 
• Warsaw, Poland: The EU recently invested $2 billion into the Warsaw economy for projects including protecting the environment, improving infrastructure and public transportation, upgrading energy, and creating a low-carbon economy. 
• NEOM, Saudi Arabia: NEOM is a developed destination near the Red Sea that includes businesses, residential areas, research centers, entertainment venues, and homes for over a million people. Project Managers are needed for this ongoing development which is slated to open in 2030.

Top Cities for Project Managers

Washington DC

The Washington DC metropolitan area, known as the DMV (Washington DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia), is one of the world’s largest markets for Project Managers. There are currently around 5,000 open jobs for Project Managers in the DC Metro Area. 

There is also a robust community of Project Managers: the DMV is home to 5 local PMI chapters, and the DC chapter of PMI is the largest in the world, with more than 10,000 members. In the first quarter of 2022, PMI’s Washington DC Chapter provided nearly 20 career and leadership development opportunities. 

Washington DC has the highest average salary for PMP Certified Project Managers at around $300,000 per year. The other two cities in the DMV rank #2 (Baltimore) and #10 (Richmond, VA) in the highest salaries in the United States for PMP Certified Project Managers. 

DC ranks 8th in the nation for an average salary of Project Managers at around $110,000 per year. Maryland ranks 17th in the US, with an average salary of $100,000 annually. Project Managers in Virginia earn an average salary of $110,000, the fifth-highest in the U.S.

Some megaprojects that will continue to support growth in Project Manager jobs:

• Renovation of Historical Landmarks: Project Managers are needed to oversee the maintenance and renovation of the various landmarks in DC, such as the recent $25 million project to renovate the Lincoln Memorial.

• Federal Initiatives: The White House released a document setting government-wide standards for Project Management, which will require trained Project Managers to implement. Project Managers are also needed for sustainability and infrastructure initiatives.

• 11th Street Bridge: Project Managers will be needed for development projects such as adding a park to the 11th Street Bridge, which connects the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. 

• Housing Shortage:There are currently over 100 million dollars being funneled into developing housing in the DC area. There will be a constant demand for Construction Project Managers in the DMV. 

• Pandemic and Health Projects: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a booming need for Project Managers who assist in pandemic planning, protocols, and readiness. A Project Manager might be in charge of designing a company’s response to health crises or creating an easy path toward returning to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Washington, D.C., is a lucrative city to be a Project Manager. For example, while you might think of it primarily as opportunities for working with the government, Washington, D.C., is home to Amazon Web Services. Amazon is currently in the top 10 companies that pay Project Managers the most, with an average salary of around $130,000. One of the most successful Management Consulting companies, Booz, Allen, and Hamilton, is headquartered in DC and offers Project Managers an average salary of around $120,000 annually. 

Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington, has long been a hub for tech jobs. Washington is currently #2 in the US for highest-paid Project Managers, with an average salary of around $120,000 per year. In a city that’s frequently ranked among the best US cities to find a job, Seattle is home to around 5,000 open Project Manager jobs. 

Since Seattle is a tech city, many of its Project Manager jobs are in Software Project Management and IT Project Management. The Microsoft Campus in nearby Redmond is part of the greater Seattle area. Microsoft is currently ranked #8 in companies that pay Project Managers the most, with an average salary of around $130,000. It is also home to Google, which ranks #2 for companies with highly paid Project Managers who make around $170,000 annually. 

Other significant companies hiring Project Managers in the Seattle area include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Amazon, Disney, Twitch, Pokemon, Expedia, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and Starbucks. Amazon by itself lists around 10,000 Project Manager jobs. 

In addition to the tech sector, Seattle is also home to many other opportunities for Project Managers:

• Aerospace and Aviation: Project Managers might work at aviation and defense juggernaut Boeing or Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space flight company.
• Transit and Transportation: Using funds from The 2021 Infrastructure and Jobs Act, Seattle is investing over $3 billion in SoundTransit, its light rail system. SoundTransit is hiring a lot of Project Managers to work on this project. Seattle is also investing funds in improving its roads, including State Route 520. This plan also includes increasing pedestrian options and adding high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
• Environmental: The Puget Sound Partnership frequently employs Project Managers to oversee their Puget Sound ecosystem recovery efforts. 
• Diversity & Inclusion: Seattle is a progressive city seeking to increase its inclusivity through city-wide initiatives. These will need Project Managers to implement them in the community. 

PMI ranked Seattle’s COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator as its Most Influential Project in 2020. Seattle is also home to a vibrant PMI chapter, Puget Sound PMI. The President of Puget Sound PMI hosts a podcast discussing project management topics in Seattle. They also host office hours for professional mentoring and Lunch & Learns for professional development. 

San Jose, California and Silicon Valley

San Jose, California, is the largest city in Silicon Valley and has some of the country's highest salaries for Project Managers. It is currently ranked #3 in the U.S. for highest-paid Project Managers and #3 for highest-paid PMP Certified Project Managers. California ranks #7 in the US for Project Manager salaries, with an average salary of around $110,000. 

San Jose is a part of the San Francisco Bay Area, which has the highest concentration of tech companies in the United States. Considered the “Capital of Silicon Valley,” which includes Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Redwood City, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Cupertino. All the cities that makeup Silicon Valley offer Project Managers higher than average salaries. For example, San Jose’s neighbor Sunnyvale’s average salary for a Project Manager is 25% above the national average. 

Some of the most famous tech companies in the world have their headquarters in San Jose, such as Zoom, Cisco, eBay, Adobe, PayPal, and Samsung. Cisco is ranked #3 among companies with the highest-paid Project Managers, with an average salary of around $170,000 per year. Adobe ranks 5th on that list by paying its Project Managers an average salary of around $150,000 annually. 

Silicon Valley is a hotbed for tech giants, startups, and projects. Some of the project management opportunities in San Jose and Silicon Valley include: 

• IT Project Managers: As the world's tech capital, IT Project Managers are in very high demand. IT Project Managers in the Silicon Valley area make average salaries of more than $130,000 per year.

• Environmental: The influx of people and cars into the San Francisco Bay Area due to the tech boom has caused water shortages and environmental changes. Experts predict the rise of “Climate Tech,” which will need Project Managers. 

• Cannabis: Recreational marijuana is legal in California, which creates opportunities for Project Managers who want to specialize in this cutting-edge industry. 

• Startups: Silicon Valley is the largest startup incubator in the world, leading to plenty of opportunities for Project Managers.

• Inclusion & Diversity:Tech companies have launched initiatives to increase the number of tech workers who are women or minorities. Capable Project Managers can assist them in doing so and increasing inclusivity at existing workplaces. 

PMI Silicon Valley provides San Jose Project Managers with a solid community and network of other professional and aspiring Project Managers. They offer virtual PM Breakfast Meetings, Women in Project Management mentorship and forums, virtual workshops in professional development and project management skills, and Job Search breakfasts. 

Austin, Texas

Austin used to be known as the Live Music Capital of the World. The capital city of Texas is gaining a reputation as “Silicon Hills” because so many tech companies have relocated there, including Tesla, Apple, Dell, SpaceX, Facebook, Google, Oracle, and Texas Instruments. It’s also home to over 15 tech incubators and frequently ranks high in the top areas for venture capital. 

Austin ranks #1 in the United States for tech migrations. With so much tech, startups, venture capital, and live music, Austin is also seeing high growth and development: all of these factors make Austin a fantastic city for Project Managers. 

Austin tech salaries are soaring near California levels while still having lower living costs than the other cities on this list, no state income tax in Texas, and a more spacious landscape. 

The average salary for a tech worker in Austin in 2021 was around $145,000 per year. That’s comparable to San Diego, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York salaries. It’s more than tech workers make in Chicago, Washington DC, and Denver. A tech worker making $165,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area would make an equivalent of $234,000 a year in Austin once you factor in the tax and cost-of-living benefits. 

Project Managers in Austin have an average salary of around $140,000 a year. Austin is ranked #5 in the U.S. for highest-paid Project Managers, behind Boston, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and Dallas, TX. According to the Austin Business Journal, salaries in Austin are growing nearly twice as fast as the national average. According to PMI, Austin is a top 10 city for the highest-paid PMP Certified Project Managers. 

Here are some of the industries and projects creating opportunities for Project Managers in Austin:

Big Tech Migration

Elon Musk leads the tech migration to Austin and recently relocated Tesla, SpaceX, Neurolink, and The Boring Company to the Austin area. Musk raised around $6 billion for his tunneling startup, The Boring Company, which is building a headquarters in Austin. There are also plans for the company to build transportation tunnels from Austin to the other major cities in Texas. 

Musk is spending over $1 billion on Tesla’s new ecologically-friendly manufacturing plant and corporate headquarters in Austin. There is a possibility that Musk will relocate Twitter to Austin, which will create even more job opportunities for Project Managers. 

Some of the highest-paying companies for Project Managers have headquarters or locations in Austin, including Meta/Facebook, Cisco, Google, and Amazon. Meta has more than 1200 employees in Austin but intends to grow to over 1600. Google has over 1,500 employees in Austin and is expanding into a highrise building downtown. Google also has the highest-paid employees of any tech company: the median salary for Google employees is around $300,000. 

Clean Technology 

The Texas Department of Transportation has recently announced a five-year plan to place electric charging stations every fifty miles on Texas interstates. The $35 billion in funding comes from the 2021 Jobs and Infrastructure Act. 

Creative & Digital Tech

Austin is home to events like SXSW Music, Film, Interactive, and Austin City Limits. UT Austin is also home to an undergraduate gaming program at the University of Texas, Austin.

Data Management

Skybox Datacenters is a national data center development company investing $550 million to build a data center in Austin. https://austonia.com/skybox-data-center-pflugerville

Aerospace and Space Technology

Austin is home to around 200,000 Aerospace workers, which makes it an excellent city for Aerospace Project Managers or Project Managers seeking to gain experience in this industry. 

Boston, Massachusetts 

Boston is home to some of the most famous projects, including The Big Dig and the American Revolution. As part of the 2021 Jobs and Infrastructure Bill, Massachusetts will receive over $9 billion for road improvements, public transit, airports, broadband internet expansion, combating wildfires, electric vehicle expansion, and strengthening cybersecurity. 

That’s a lot of projects that will need Project Managers. Along with NYC and the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston is one of the largest markets for Project Managers in the United States. Project Managers in Boston are also paid very well, with an average salary of around $150,000 per year. According to Forbes, Massachusetts ranks #9 among the U.S. for Project Managers’ salaries. 

Massachusetts has consistently been a top employer of Project Managers for some time, which means you’ll find a more established network there. Over 3,500 professional Project Managers are members of PMI’s Mass Bay Chapter. They offer opportunities for mentoring, professional development, and assistance with Certifications to Project Managers in the Greater Boston area. 

80% of Boston’s workers are in higher education, healthcare, and finance. Boston is considered one of the country’s major tech hubs: the city ranks #8 in the nation for tech careers, and more than 10% of its workforce is in tech. 

Boston lacks the significant companies of the other cities. Still, it’s also home to more institutions of higher learning than any other city in the United States, including Harvard, Boston University, and Tufts. Amazon is increasing its presence in the Boston area and employs more than 4,500 workers. They are in the process of building their “Boston Tech Hub” and making considerable financial investments in growing Boston’s reputation as a center for tech jobs.