Among industries, Wall Street IT compensation sits even more firmly on top than in recent years. Median manager compensation in the securities and investments sector comes in at $175,000, 20% of it from bonuses, and a typical IT staffer in that sector makes $112,000. Biotech managers, who briefly held the No. 1 IT compensation spot in 2009 while banking took its one-year bonus breather, now typically pull in 18% less than securities and investment managers. (Biotech's now No. 3, at $142,000.) IT pros in state and local government, nonprofits, and education get paid the least. The median federal government IT staffer makes 33% more than a state staffer, ranking 10th out of 29 industries.

San Francisco reigns as the highest-paying city, with median IT manager pay of $134,000 and staff pay of $111,000. Despite the high price, the city's talent pool still draws new employers--the likes of General Electric and Ford opened software development centers there in the past year.

The money flows around our nation's capital in good times and bad. In 2010, Washington was the only city among 13 where IT pros received median raises. As the economy recovers, it's tied for No. 1 in size of raise (1.6%), No. 2 in staff pay ($108,000), and tied with New York for No. 2 in manager pay ($130,000).

In hard-hit Detroit, there are signs of growth. Its median IT manager pay of $113,000 puts it ninth on our list of cities, up from last in 2010, when pay was at $104,000. Detroit's median IT staff pay, which in 2010 was 7% lower than any in other city, is now at $85,000, on par with Minneapolis and close to Dallas and Chicago.

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