11 Best States for Mathematicians

For those of you that love numbers and function as human calculators, you might be interested in taking a look at the best states for mathematicians.

I’m not a math person. I much prefer words to numbers and I hated calculus in high school. Yes, I took the AP test and I passed, but I don’t remember anything and I didn’t really bother to learn the unit circle. I was a good student, but not motivated in the math department. However, I am proud of anyone who loves this subject since it’s not something I find even remotely interesting unless I can apply it to a simple shopping situation, cooking food, or tipping food delivery. Except Seamless actually calculates this for me, so I seldom even have to use my brain for that. I digress. I only want easy math that I can actually use instead of long equations.

Mathematicians do more than just sit around and solve equations. Many are professors who teach math principles and then conduct their own research when they’re not in class. They also work in other fields like astronomy, medicine, or robotics. It’s a fairly vast field and it just depends on your specialty and interests. Some of the best states are going to be the ones that have job opportunities across the board. I wonder if any of the Most Famous Female Mathematicians in the 21st-Century hail from these places.

In order to find out the best states here, we used three values to determine how each state would fare for living and working there. We considered cost of living, which we sourced from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC); employment rates, sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); and the annual median salary, also sourced from BLS. It’s only natural to look at the salary when hunting for a job, but one must note that the cost of living impacts how the salary works out. That’s why we have to look at both salary and cost of living together.

Ultimately, what we’re looking for on this list are the states that have a good balance among those three factors, which would be a place with low cost of living, good salary, and high employment rates. Sharpen your pencils and get your calculators ready for the best states for mathematicians!

11. Massachusetts

Annual median salary: $111,030

Cost of living: 134.7

Employment: 90

10. District of Columbia

Annual median salary: $118,130

Cost of living: 149.2

Employment: 90

9. California

Annual median salary: $118,040

Cost of living: 134.8

Employment: 740

8. Maryland

Annual median salary: $132,140

Cost of living: 125

Employment: 330

7. New Jersey

Annual median salary: $145,360

Cost of living: 121

Employment: 150

6. Florida

Annual median salary: $94,050

Cost of living: 99

Employment: 110

We’re halfway through our list of best states for mathematicians and now, let’s see the other half.

5. Ohio

Annual median salary: $93,650

Cost of living: 93

Employment: 40

4. New Mexico

Annual median salary: $108,510

Cost of living: 95.7

Employment: 50

3. Virginia

Annual median salary: $112,610

Cost of living: 100.2

Employment: 420

2. Texas

Annual median salary: $53,900

Cost of living: 90.7

Employment: 130

1. Michigan

Annual median salary: $84,900

Cost of living: 88.2

Employment: 60

No matter your job, you should be mindful of where you’re searching if you’re looking to move to a new state. You can follow our pattern and search using the same methodology if you want to apply these ideas to other fields. Remember that salary isn’t the most important thing, as you must cross-reference it with other factors. However, if you’re a mathematician looking for a new place to live, we did the work for you in looking for the best states for mathematicians.