Denver, Boulder Jobs That Pay Among the Best in the U.S.

A just-released study from U.S. News & World Report ranks its choices for the best 100 jobs in the United States for 2021. But the analysis also looks at the cities that offer the highest salaries for those gigs — and according to the magazine, Denver scores near the top for five of them and Boulder for seven, with two other cities, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, earning honorable mentions.

Among the professions cited on the high end of the pay scale for these cities are IT manager and psychiatrist, as well as actors, skin-care specialists and nail technicians — twice. The jobs highlighted by U.S. News are heavily weighted toward the health-care field — no surprise, given the ongoing pandemic.

Among Denver's best-paying job is social and community service manager, with an average mean salary of just over $90,000. Boulder's entries start with marketing managers, whose going rate is in excess of $183,000. According to the magazine, nail technicians make an average of $44,000 in Boulder, but $54,000-plus in Fort Collins. And while Colorado Springs psychiatrists don't quite average $300,000, they come close.

Here are all the U.S. News & World Report entries for Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, as well as links to more information.

Denver is among the top 5 highest-paying cities in the U.S. for these 5 jobs:

Social and Community Service Manager: $90,420
Geographer: $85,860
Actor: $64,980
Esthetician and Skincare Specialist: $68,590
Wind Turbine Technician: $73,830

Boulder is among the top 5 highest-paying cities in the U.S. for these 7 jobs:

Marketing Manager: $183,460
IT Manager: $181,910
HR Specialist: $91,940
Technical Writer: $100,500
Physical Therapist Aide: $41,450
Hairdresser: $52,120
Nail Technician: $44,510

Colorado Springs is among the top 5 highest-paying cities in the U.S. for these 2 jobs:

Rehabilitation Counselor: $62,930
Psychiatrist: $278,520

Fort Collins is among the top 5 highest paying cities in the U.S. for this job:

Nail Technician: $54,850

Cities earned special attention if they rated in the top five municipalities offering the best salaries for the most jobs on the roster; no Colorado community made the cut. Here are the top twenty:

1. San Francisco, California — 88 jobs
2. San Jose, California — 75 jobs
3. New York, New York — 43 jobs
4. Bridgeport, Connecticut — 31 jobs (tie)
4. Seattle, Washington — 31 jobs (tie)
6. Vallejo, California — 29 jobs
7. Salinas, California — 28 jobs
8. Washington, District of Columbia — 24 jobs
9. Los Angeles, California — 20 jobs (tie)
9. Trenton, New Jersey — 20 jobs (tie)
11. Sacramento, California — 18 jobs
12. Anchorage, Alaska — 15 jobs
13. Urban Honolulu, Hawaii — 13 jobs
14. Oxnard, California — 12 jobs (tie)
14. Santa Maria, California — 12 jobs (tie)
14. Santa Rosa, California — 12 jobs (tie)
17. Chicago, Illinois — 11 jobs
18. Boston, Massachusetts — 10 jobs (tie)
18. Fairbanks, Alaska — 10 jobs (tie)
20. Kahului, Hawaii — 9 jobs (tie)
20. Napa, California — 9 jobs (tie)
20. Santa Cruz, California — 9 jobs (tie)