But there are so many nuances with geography, job title, functional area, background, and more that get lost in aggregate data.

FORBES: How To Get Salary Data You Can Really Use

To select the best markets for investing, LMM analyzed the 145 Metropolitan Statistical Areas with populations over 400, 000 on a variety of factors, including historic population growth, job growth, housing price changes and the mix of jobs in an area, using data through Sept. 1.

FORBES: Real Estate