Steer clear of San Francisco if you want to rake in the big bucks and still pocket most of your hard-earned cash.

An analysis by Paysa, a company that compiles career and pay data, found the best cities for tech employees based on salary and earnings versus the cost of living.

San Francisco is number one on average salary for tech workers, coming in at $144,390, yet workers blow a large chunk of that money just to reside in town.

The cost of living in the Bay Area is approaching $90,000 a year, according to Paysa. To get that number, the firm used the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which weighs housing costs, food, transportation, child care and health care in a given location.

"The huge salary doesn't look so great when you look at it on a local angle, said Chris Bolte, CEO of Paysa.

"We're seeing people migrate from these high-profile cities to places that have a lower paycheck but the cost of living is appreciably lower and your lifestyle is much better," he said.