Accountant Salary in 2026: National, by State, City, Specialty & Real Value

An accountant in the United States earns a median of $83,680 a year, about $40.23 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). Pay runs from roughly $56,020 at the 10th percentile to $144,090 at the 90th, and it swings further once you account for state, metro, setting, specialty, cost of living, and tax. About 1,449,500 accountants work nationwide. This guide is the complete picture: national and percentile pay, all 50 states ranked by real (cost-adjusted) value, top metros, settings, specialties, take-home after tax, the path in, the return on the degree, and answers to the questions people ask most.

National pay overview

The national median for accountants is $83,680 a year ($40.23 an hour), with a mean of $94,750. The full wage curve, from entry to senior:

Percentile	Annual	Hourly
10th (entry)	$56,020	$26.93
25th	$67,020	$32.22
50th (median)	$83,680	$40.23
75th	$109,810	$52.79
90th (senior)	$144,090	$69.27

The gap from the 10th to the 90th percentile is about $88,070. A single national number hides that range, which is why the rest of this guide breaks pay down by every factor that moves it, and then translates the headline into cost-adjusted, after-tax dollars.

The mean of $94,750 sits above the median, which tells you the top of the field pulls the average up: a meaningful share of accountants earn well into the upper percentiles through specialty, setting, geography, and seniority. The practical question is what you can earn given where you work, what you specialize in, and how you structure your hours, which matters far more than the field-wide average. Each section below answers one piece of that.

Pay by experience

BLS does not publish pay by years of experience, but the percentiles map closely to a career arc:

Stage	Typical percentile	Annual
New graduate	10th to 25th	$56,020 to $67,020
Mid-career	~50th	around $83,680
Experienced	~75th	around $109,810
Senior / specialized / lead	90th+	$144,090 and up

The climb from new graduate to senior is roughly $88,070. Early raises tend to come fastest as you move off new-grad pay; by mid-career the curve flattens, and the people who keep climbing usually do so by specializing, switching to a higher-paying setting or state, taking on lead and management duties, or adding hours through overtime and extra work. Geography and setting can outweigh experience entirely: an experienced accountant in a low-paying state can earn less than a new graduate in a top-paying one.

Salary by state: all 50 states ranked by real value

This is the table most accountant salary pages leave out. Below are every state and Washington, D.C., ranked by real value (the median adjusted for that state’s cost of living (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024)) rather than by sticker pay. A high-paying state with high costs can leave you worse off than a moderate-paying, low-cost one. Tap a linked state for the full local breakdown.

#	State	Median (nominal)	Cost level (US=100)	Real value	Employed
1	District of Columbia	$111,530	109.9	$101,482	9,810
2	Delaware	$95,020	99.8	$95,203	6,570
3	New York	$102,640	107.9	$95,107	109,830
4	Colorado	$97,030	103.1	$94,156	35,410
5	Connecticut	$97,550	103.6	$94,151	16,770
6	Massachusetts	$99,460	105.8	$94,046	46,230
7	Rhode Island	$95,820	102.3	$93,684	6,570
8	New Jersey	$100,830	108.8	$92,670	42,250
9	Virginia	$93,290	101.1	$92,271	47,100
10	Oklahoma	$79,370	87.8	$90,354	16,720
11	Washington	$96,550	107.0	$90,223	34,740
12	South Dakota	$78,880	88.6	$89,043	5,820
13	Iowa	$77,440	87.8	$88,239	13,210
14	Kansas	$79,000	90.1	$87,712	13,610
15	California	$97,050	110.7	$87,654	175,360
16	North Carolina	$82,050	94.3	$86,986	49,270
17	Ohio	$79,320	92.8	$85,498	50,440
18	New Mexico	$78,580	92.2	$85,217	6,300
19	Maryland	$89,370	105.0	$85,148	26,170
20	North Dakota	$75,730	89.0	$85,129	4,430
21	Georgia	$81,900	96.3	$85,053	44,020
22	Wisconsin	$79,400	94.1	$84,383	25,100
23	Missouri	$76,590	90.8	$84,334	28,000
24	Alabama	$74,880	88.8	$84,302	24,300
25	Wyoming	$77,620	92.7	$83,741	2,670
26	Louisiana	$73,810	88.2	$83,678	14,050
27	Tennessee	$76,840	91.9	$83,640	27,340
28	Kentucky	$75,270	90.2	$83,486	11,930
29	Texas	$80,920	97.1	$83,374	116,470
30	Indiana	$77,720	93.3	$83,275	25,660
31	Oregon	$85,800	103.4	$83,010	14,920
32	Minnesota	$81,600	98.6	$82,741	30,530
33	West Virginia	$73,320	89.5	$81,925	4,900
34	Michigan	$78,820	96.2	$81,919	41,460
35	South Carolina	$76,560	93.7	$81,665	15,270
36	Nevada	$81,600	100.0	$81,617	6,930
37	Alaska	$83,460	102.4	$81,537	2,190
38	Pennsylvania	$79,000	97.6	$80,966	54,290
39	Utah	$79,990	98.9	$80,909	15,490
40	Vermont	$78,890	98.0	$80,535	2,630
41	Illinois	$80,230	100.0	$80,264	54,930
42	New Hampshire	$83,470	104.2	$80,132	7,000
43	Montana	$75,810	94.6	$80,099	4,730
44	Nebraska	$72,080	90.1	$79,997	10,340
45	Maine	$77,480	97.0	$79,835	3,860
46	Arizona	$79,970	100.7	$79,432	27,410
47	Mississippi	$68,100	87.0	$78,318	7,350
48	Idaho	$74,730	95.5	$78,256	5,570
49	Florida	$79,250	103.4	$76,634	91,000
50	Arkansas	$66,330	86.9	$76,297	7,870
51	Hawaii	$74,500	110.0	$67,757	4,670

On real, cost-adjusted value, District of Columbia leads at $101,482, while Hawaii trails at $67,757. By raw sticker pay the order is different: District of Columbia ($111,530), New York ($102,640), and New Jersey ($100,830) pay the most nominally, but several of them slide down the list once high housing and prices are counted. That reordering is the single most useful thing this page does, and it is why national averages and sticker rankings can steer you wrong.

Concrete example of the flip: New Hampshire ranks #14 by sticker pay ($83,470) but only #42 once its cost level of 104 is applied, because high prices eat the higher salary. Meanwhile Iowa looks middling on sticker (#37) yet climbs to #13 on real value, since a 77,440-dollar median goes much further at a cost level of 88. If you are willing to relocate, the real-value column, not the sticker column, is the one that should guide the decision.

The geographic pattern: the highest sticker pay clusters on the West Coast and in the Northeast, while the best real value often shows up in lower-cost states in the South, Midwest, and Mountain West where a strong salary meets cheap housing. There is no single best state, only the best fit for where you want to live and what your money will buy there.

Highest-paying metros

Within states, metros drive pay further. The largest accountant job markets by employment, with median pay:

Metro	Median	Employed
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY	$105,650	111,930
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$94,360	70,640
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC	$102,140	41,470
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL	$82,360	41,360
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$82,620	37,450
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA	$100,150	37,150
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$80,920	30,950
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$85,820	30,150
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA	$85,990	29,370
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$85,090	28,400

The same cost-of-living rule applies inside a state: a higher-paying big metro can lose to a cheaper mid-size city once housing is counted. Big metros also hold the deepest job markets, so they pair the most pay with the most openings, while rural and smaller markets sometimes pay premiums to attract candidates. The state pages work the metro and cost math out city by city.

Salary by work setting

Where accountants work changes pay as much as geography. National medians by employer type:

Setting	Employed (U.S.)	Median
Accounting, Tax Preparation, Bookkeeping, and Payroll Services	330,500	$81,490
Management of Companies and Enterprises	105,120	$91,940
Local Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals (OEWS Designation)	52,100	$80,310
Real Estate	46,620	$87,580
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services	45,700	$91,720
State Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals (OEWS Designation)	44,370	$77,450
Computer Systems Design and Related Services	34,880	$98,750

The gap between the highest- and lowest-paying settings is real money over a career, and it usually comes with trade-offs in pace, caseload, autonomy, and schedule rather than in difficulty alone. The largest employer is not always the best payer, so it is worth weighing where the volume of jobs is against where the pay is when you choose a setting.

How it compares to related careers

It helps to see an accountant beside the roles people weigh against it, with pay set next to the education each requires:

Role	National median	Education
Bookkeeping Clerk	$50,670	Some college
Accountant (this role)	$83,680	Bachelor’s (CPA for top)
Financial Analyst	$102,740	Bachelor’s (CFA/MBA)
Financial Manager	$166,570	Bachelor’s + experience

Against bookkeeping clerk at $50,670, this role pays about $33,010 more for the added schooling. The higher-paid financial analyst ($102,740) sits $19,060 above, but on a longer or different training path. The right comparison is always pay set against the time, cost, and debt of the credential, not pay alone.

Credentials, specialization, and what they mean for pay

Accounting is open to bachelor’s graduates, but the CPA license is the single biggest pay lever, required to sign audit opinions and rewarded everywhere else. Beyond the CPA, specialization (tax, audit, forensic, systems) and sector, public accounting including the Big Four versus private industry or government, shape pay. Early public-accounting experience tends to raise lifetime earnings.

Licensing is not just a hurdle, it shapes pay. Where a role can practice more independently or bill for more services, it tends to command more, and license portability between states affects how easily you can chase a higher-paying market. Always confirm the current rules with the relevant state board, since scope and requirements change and vary widely.

Specialties and where the pay is

Pay rises with the CPA, with specialization in tax, forensic, or technical accounting, and with the climb from staff to manager, senior manager, and partner in public accounting, or to controller and CFO in industry. The Big Four and large corporations pay above smaller firms, and high-cost metros pay above the national median.

The practical takeaway: within accountants, specialty and setting usually move pay more than another year of general experience. The top earners are rarely just the most tenured, they are the ones in the higher-paying focus areas, settings, or leadership and ownership roles.

If you are early in the field, the decisions with the biggest long-run payoff are which specialty to pursue and which setting to enter, because both compound over a career and are easier to choose early than to switch later. A credential that takes a year to earn can pay for itself many times over through higher pay and more job options, which is the same logic the ROI section applies to the degree itself.

What moves the pay

• State and metro, and crucially the cost of living that goes with them, which the real-value table reorders.
• Experience, which lifts pay steadily and then plateaus without a specialty or a step up.
• Work setting and employer, since some settings and employers pay well above others, as the settings table shows.
• Specialty and board certification, a clear premium in most of these fields.
• Hours and structure, since overtime, extra shifts, and contract or travel work can push total pay well above base.

Salary, hourly, and total compensation

The $83,680 median is base pay, and real total compensation often runs higher. Most accounting roles are salaried, with variable pay from annual and busy-season bonuses; equity appears mainly at senior levels and in industry. The biggest long-run pay driver is the CPA and the climb toward controller, CFO, or partner, where total compensation rises well above the staff median. When comparing offers, weigh the whole package, base, any bonus or equity, overtime or premiums where they apply, retirement match, and paid time off, since two offers with the same base can differ by thousands once the rest is counted.

Take-home pay after tax

Two accountants on the same $83,680 salary keep very different amounts depending on the state. Worked examples on the national median, single filer, 2026 federal plus FICA plus state:

State	Gross	Est. take-home	Effective rate
Texas (no state income tax)	$83,680	$67,255	19.6%
New York	$83,680	$63,257	24.4%
California	$83,680	$63,445	24.2%

That is roughly $3,810 a year more in take-home in no-tax Texas than in California on an identical salary, before cost of living is even counted. Nine states levy no income tax.

Take-home also scales with where you sit on the pay curve. In Texas, an entry-level accountant earning $67,020 nets about $55,535, while a senior one at $144,090 keeps about $109,239, since higher pay pushes more income into higher federal brackets. The effective rate climbs with income, so a raise is worth somewhat less on take-home than on the headline. Every state page includes a full breakdown and a paycheck calculator to run your own number.

How to maximize earnings

• Target a high-real-value state or metro using the table above, not the highest sticker.
• Move into the higher-paying setting and specialty for your field.
• Add board certification or a specialty credential, which pays a clear premium.
• Use overtime, contract, or travel work to lift total pay, and negotiate the full package.
• Consider leadership or ownership for the higher ceiling.

How pay is changing

Wages for accountants have broadly risen with demand and inflation, but the real story is in the mix: pay grows fastest where labor is scarce and where the role takes on more responsibility. Watch three things if you are planning a career here, the spread between settings (which keeps widening as specialized and higher-skill roles pull ahead), the value of cost-of-living arbitrage (a strong salary in a cheap state has rarely been worth more relative to expensive coastal markets), and the premium on specialty credentials. The figures on this page are the May 2025 BLS estimates, the most recent national data, and the state pages carry the same detail locally.

Job outlook

Employment of accountants and auditors is projected to grow about 5% from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average for all occupations, with a large roughly 124,200 openings a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A complex tax and regulatory environment and a steady stream of retirements keep demand healthy, even as software automates routine bookkeeping. The durable, higher-skill accounting work, especially anything requiring a CPA, remains in demand.

For context, the average growth rate across all U.S. occupations through 2034 is about 3%. A large share of yearly openings also comes from replacing workers who retire or move on, so real hiring tends to run ahead of the net-growth figure, and shortage and rural areas often pay the most to attract candidates.

How to become an accountant

Accounting is a stable bachelor’s-level profession where the CPA is the key to higher pay:

1. Earn a bachelor’s in accounting or a related field; many states require 150 credit hours for the CPA.
2. Pursue the CPA license, the single biggest accelerator of accounting pay.
3. Get early experience, often in public accounting, which builds skills and lifts later earnings.
4. Specialize and advance toward manager and partner in public accounting, or controller and CFO in industry.

Is it worth it? The return on the degree

A bachelor’s plus the CPA delivers a solid return against a median near $83,680, with strong job stability and a clear ladder. The largest gains come from earning the CPA and advancing into management, controller, CFO, or partner roles, where pay climbs well above the staff level. Weigh program cost, your starting state and setting, and the specialties you can reach against the debt. The pay tables above, set next to the education column in the comparison section, are the honest way to run that math before committing.

Two levers change the answer most: the price of the program you choose, since cost varies enormously between public and private schools, and the state and setting you start in, since the same degree pays very differently across the by-state and settings tables above. A graduate who controls program cost and starts in a high-real-value state can clear the debt years faster than one who does neither, on the identical credential.

Frequently asked questions

State guides and tools

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 and Occupational Outlook Handbook (SOC 13-2011 and related codes); national, state, and metro estimates. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024. Take-home figures are 2026 estimates (federal, FICA, and state) for a single filer and will vary with deductions and filing status. See our methodology.