Want to get rich? Move to Texas

"Go west, young man," was deemed splendid career advice 140 years ago or so, and an updated version of that piece of wisdom might be, "Go to Plano, Texas."

Located near Dallas, Plano topped a list of the best American cities in which to "build personal wealth." The list, called the Salary Value Index, was compiled by Salary.com Inc., a Waltham company that makes software that helps businesses to address compensation and talent-management issues.

(The image above is from Plano's website and shows a downtown streetscape.)

In examining cities, Salary.com said it focused primarily on the relationship between living costs and pay. To check out the full list, please click here.

Just behind Plano on the list of good places to amass wealth are Aurora, Colo.; Omaha; Minneapolis; and Albuquerque, Salary.com said.

At the bottom of the list, in 69th place, was New York City; the worst cities to build personal wealth include Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles, and San Francisco, according to Salary.com.

Boston ranked in 58th place on Salary.com's list. A surprise perhaps is that Fresno, Calif., may be a tougher place to amass wealth; Fresno ranked 60th on the Salary.com list.

"The end result of this analysis is a list in which the most favorable cities offer the largest difference between pay and costs," Bill Coleman, chief compensation officer at Salary.com, said in a statement. "Plus, each additional qualifying factor helped to further refine the list by highlighting the 'employment strength' of cities with a variety of industry, strong focus on education, and low unemployment."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)