BLS OEWS May 2025 · SOC 13-2011 · 109,830 NY workers
CPA Salary in New York 2026: $102,640 Median
New York is the only state where accounting pay is set partly by an industry that is not accounting. The financial sector's demand for controllers, fund accountants and internal auditors lifts the whole New York distribution, and it is why the state's upper percentiles run well ahead of neighbouring markets with similar costs.
Updated July 2026 · BLS OEWS May 2025
Compiled by GlobalCybers Labor Market Research · Reviewed by Douglas Whitfield, CPA, Finance Recruitment Lead · See methodology & sources →
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NY Median
$102,640
$49.35/hr
vs National
+$18,960
22.7% above US median
NY P90
$171,030
$82.23/hr · top earners
NY Job Growth
+4.6%
2024–2034 · national BLS EP 2024–34
🤑A New York CPA's take-home depends heavily on which side of the city line they live on. State rates run 4% to 10.9%, and New York City residents pay an additional resident income tax of roughly 3.078% to 3.876%; at the state 75th percentile of $134,820 that city tax alone is a four-figure annual difference against an identical salary in Westchester or New Jersey. Employees also fund Paid Family Leave at 0.432% of wages, capped in the low hundreds, plus statutory disability. Public accounting's busy-season overtime is generally salaried and unpaid at senior levels, so the tax picture is straightforward, but it compounds the effective hourly cost of the January-to-April period.
Direct Answer
How much do cpas make in New York in 2026?
New York accountants and auditors earn a median $102,640 a year, or $49.35 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, 22.7% above the $83,680 national median. That series covers all accountants and auditors, not only CPA licence holders, so the licensed tier of the profession sits above this midpoint rather than on it. The statewide range runs $63,700 at the 10th percentile to $171,030 at the 90th. New York-Newark-Jersey City leads the metro table at $105,650, well clear of Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh at $88,900 and Albany-Schenectady-Troy at $84,660. → Full cpa career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $102,640 blends every experience level, apprentice through master. For pay by license level alone, see pay by level below.
Key takeaways
New York cpas earn a median $102,640/yr ($49.35/hr) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 13-2011), 22.7% above the $83,680 national median; the state P10–P90 range is $63,700 to $171,030.
The metro table is almost entirely a New York City story: $105,650 in the NYC metro against $82,500 in Binghamton, and every upstate metro clustered within a few thousand dollars of each other.
New York does not distinguish CPAs from unlicensed accountants in the wage series, so read the $102,640 median as the whole occupation and the upper percentiles toward $134,820 and $171,030 as where the licensed, financial-sector and controller-track population actually sits.
New York licenses through the State Board for Public Accountancy under the NYSED Office of the Professions and requires 150 semester hours plus one year of experience — but unlike many states it will accept experience supervised by a CPA in industry, not only in public practice.
New York at a glance
Median salary$102,640
Median hourly$49.35
Range (P10–P90)$63,700–$171,030
Top-paying metroNew York-Newark-Jersey City · $105,650
vs national22.7% above
State income tax6.85%
NY employment (BLS)109,830
Location quotient1.22× US concentration
Wage basisBLS OEWS May 2025, New York
New York CPA Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
$63,700
P10
$79,760
P25
$102,640
Median
$134,820
P75
$171,030
P90
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025
Methodology & Sources
How the New York cpa pay figures on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 13-2011, New York statewide estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them. OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation in New York; it does not break pay out by credential or licence level.
Pay by level: the level and career-stage tables on this page distribute New York's own published BLS pay range across the tiers employers actually hire at. They are GlobalCybers estimates aligned to published percentiles, not separate BLS publications.
Placement sample: GlobalCybers holds no New York placement sample for this occupation, so this page shows published and percentile-aligned figures only — no placement-based median is claimed anywhere on it.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. New York-Newark-Jersey City leads the state at $105,650.
Getting Licensed
How to become a licensed cpa in New York, step by step
1
Complete 150 semester hours
Finish a registered accounting programme or an equivalent 150-hour path accepted by the NYSED Office of the Professions; New York lets you sit the examination at 120 hours while you complete the rest.
2
Pass the Uniform CPA Examination and register
Pass all sections, complete one year of qualifying experience under a licensed CPA in public practice or in industry, and satisfy New York's mandatory ethics requirement.
3
Move into the New York City market
Take a role in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro at $105,650, where audit and tax manager and controller positions carry the state's highest accounting salaries and reach the state 75th percentile of $134,820.
4
Specialise in financial services or move in-house
Fund accounting, product control, technical accounting and internal audit inside New York's banking and asset management sector are the specialisms that reach the state 90th percentile of $171,030.
NYSED License Levels
What do New York accountants earn by licence and level?
New York licenses issued by NYSED public accountancy licence — the New York State Board for Public Accountancy, under the NYSED Office of the Professions, issues the CPA licence and registers accounting firms.. Each level's median pay in New York markets.
NYSED License
NY Pay Range
NY Median
Key Note
Staff accountant or first-year associate
$59K–$80K
$63,700
Around the state 10th percentile. Public accounting associates, staff accountants in industry and internal audit analysts start here; New York City firms pay noticeably above this figure, upstate firms at or below it.
Senior accountant or newly licensed CPA
$80K–$135K
$102,640
The New York median. Typically three to six years in with the CPA licence issued or in progress. This is the point at which the New York market starts to differentiate the licensed from the unlicensed.
Manager, controller or fund accounting lead
$128K–$171K
$134,820
The state 75th percentile. Audit and tax managers in public accounting, controllers at mid-sized companies, and fund or product controllers on the financial-services side, overwhelmingly in the NYC metro.
Senior manager, director or divisional controller
$164K–$209K
$171,030
The state 90th percentile. Senior managers and directors in public accounting, and financial controllers and heads of internal audit inside New York's banking, asset management and insurance sector.
Beyond Base Pay
What's a New York cpa's total compensation, not just base wage?
BLS and verified-placement medians above are base wage only. Total comp for an NY cpa typically adds the following on top.
New York accountants and auditors earn a median $102,640 a year, $49.35 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $79,760 and $134,820 and a full range of $63,700 to $171,030. The series covers all accountants and auditors, so CPA licence holders as a group sit above the $102,640 midpoint rather than at it.
Which New York city pays cpas the most?
New York-Newark-Jersey City pays the most at $105,650. Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh follows at $88,900, then Albany-Schenectady-Troy at $84,660, Ithaca at $83,800 and Binghamton at $82,500. The seventeen-thousand-dollar gap between the NYC metro and the next-best metro is the largest single lever available to a New York accountant.
How do I get licensed as a CPA in New York?
New York licenses CPAs through the State Board for Public Accountancy, administered by the NYSED Office of the Professions. You need 150 semester hours including a registered or equivalent accounting programme, passing scores on all sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, one year of qualifying experience under a licensed CPA, and completion of the mandatory ethics requirement before registration.
Does New York accept a CPA licence from another state?
New York offers licensure by endorsement for CPAs who hold a licence in another state, have four years of qualifying experience within the preceding ten years, and meet New York's good moral character requirement. Practice privilege rules also let out-of-state CPAs perform some services in New York without a New York licence, but signing attest reports for New York clients generally requires the New York licence and a registered firm.
Is public accounting or industry better paid in New York?
Industry pulls ahead earlier here than elsewhere. Because New York's financial sector hires controllers and fund accountants directly, a CPA who moves in-house after their manager years often reaches the state 75th percentile of $134,820 sooner than a peer who stays in public accounting. Public accounting catches back up only at partner level, which the wage series only partly captures.
Why does this page cover accountants and auditors rather than only CPAs?
Because BLS does not publish a separate wage series for CPA licence holders. SOC 13-2011 counts every accountant and auditor in New York, licensed or not, which means the $102,640 median blends bookkeeping-adjacent staff roles with licensed practitioners. Treat the median as the occupation's midpoint and the 75th percentile upward as the realistic licensed-CPA band in this state.
What does the 150-hour rule cost a New York candidate?
A fifth year of study, usually a masters in accounting, taken before or while earning near the bottom of the state range. New York permits candidates to sit the CPA examination at 120 hours, so the practical effect is that the exam and the extra thirty hours are completed in parallel with early employment rather than sequentially, which shortens the payback period compared to states that gate the exam at 150.
How much of the New York premium is really New York City?
Almost all of it. Strip the NYC metro out and New York's remaining metros pay between $82,500 and $88,900, which sits close to the national median of $83,680 rather than above it. The statewide premium is a description of Manhattan's finance and professional services demand, not a description of accounting in New York State.
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Outlook & openings: BLS projects 4.6% national growth for accountants and auditors through 2034, and New York's 7.6% share of national employment works out to roughly 9,410 openings a year, pro-rated from the national average annual openings figure. New York's own pipeline problem is sharper than the national one: falling accounting enrolments have collided with a financial sector that competes for the same graduates at higher starting salaries, which is why New York firms have been the most aggressive in the country on entry-level pay.
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