The 15 best places to live if you want to earn $100,000 or more

Major cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco are notorious for their high cost of living. But they're also hot spots for well-compensated jobs.

Job listing site Ladders ranked the U.S. cities that currently have the most job openings for positions that pay $100,000 or more, using a comprehensive list of job postings from both public and private sources.

Large, urban areas such as New York, Philadelphia and Boston dominate the list.

If you're in the market for a six-figure salary, here are the 15 U.S. cities with the most opportunities available.

$100,000+ jobs available: 4,061

Median annual income: $49,328
Local unemployment rate: 4.1 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 4,381

Median annual income: $44,262
Local unemployment rate: 4.6 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 4,682

Median annual income: $47,010
Local unemployment rate: 4.6 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 5,153

Median annual income: $52,611
Local unemployment rate: 3.3 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 5,760

Median annual income: $56,258
Local unemployment rate: 2.8 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 7,495

Median annual income: $39,770
Local unemployment rate: 4.4 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 7,724

Median annual income: $49,398
Local unemployment rate: 4 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 7,974

Median annual income: $45,215
Local unemployment rate: 3.7 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 8,082

Median annual income: $74,458
Local unemployment rate: 3.9 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 10,790

Median annual income: $50,434
Local unemployment rate: 4.3 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 12,003

Median annual income: $51,538
Local unemployment rate: 3.8 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 12,399

Median annual income: $58,516
Local unemployment rate: 3.4 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 17,274

Median annual income: $72,935
Local unemployment rate: 3.6 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 22,648

Median annual income: $55,191
Local unemployment rate: 4.4 percent

$100,000+ jobs available: 25,116

Median annual income: $87,701
Local unemployment rate: 2.7 percent

"These cities are hot spots for $100k+ jobs because of a high percentage of the areas' workforces being college educated," Marc Cenedella, CEO of Ladders, tells CNBC Make It. "A majority of these locations are also experiencing growing economies and are either established or growing regional hubs for hot, high growth sectors like tech or telecom."

However, even on a substantial salary, many metro areas are becoming increasingly expensive, which forces employees to turn to longer commutes and creative housing solutions.

"We are seeing more job seekers who are looking to work in higher paying cities (but which also have extremely high costs of living like NYC and San Francisco) are offsetting housing costs by becoming "'super commuters,'" Cenedella says. "These individuals are living further and further outside of the respective cities — commuting up to two hours each way — in order to save on cost of living."

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