This is the best city in America to work in right now

Indeed’s own report makes a similar point at the outset. For most of the last two decades, it argues, rankings that call a metro one of the best places to work have really been measuring where it’s cheapest and easiest to run a business. A place can be an excellent city to hire workers from while still being a difficult one to actually work in, and that disconnect is what the index is designed to correct.

Asked what distinguishes a city that’s good for business from one that’s good for the people working there, Kyle M.K. pointed to stability over raw opportunity.

“What people are looking for, especially in today’s economy, is stability and financial security overall,” he said. “When a city provides certain services or social safety nets, like childcare or public transportation where you’re not having to rely on car payments and insurance to get around, I think that’s what makes a city that much better for a professional over a business.”

Four of the five highest-compensation metros in the index, San Jose, Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, are major tech and government hubs. Kyle M.K. said that part of the results tracked with expectations, though who joined them near the top surprised him.

Burlington, Vermont, a small city with none of those metros’ paychecks, ranked third nationally not on pay but on how easy it is to actually land a job there, with more openings relative to job seekers than almost anywhere else in the index. The rest of that group, Kyle M.K. said, earned their spots the more expected way: through compensation.