Methodology

Every pay figure on this site comes from a U.S. government dataset. We do not estimate salaries or collect self-reported pay.

Datasets

• Wages and employment: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, for the nation, states, metro areas and industries.
• Job growth and entry education: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35.
• Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.
• Job duties: O*NET, from the U.S. Department of Labor, used under CC BY 4.0.

How to read the figures

Median means half of workers earned more and half earned less. The BLS percentiles describe all workers in a job, so the 10th percentile is not a starting salary.

Annual from hourly. The BLS assumes 2,080 hours a year (40 hours for 52 weeks). People who work fewer hours take home less than the annual figure.

Cost-adjusted pay is the median divided by the area's Regional Price Parity, where the U.S. equals 100. It is an estimate of what the wage would be worth at national-average prices, so we round it.

A plus sign, as in $239,200+, means the BLS only reports that the wage is at or above its top published value.

“Not published” means the BLS did not release an estimate, usually because the sample was too small or for confidentiality.

Limits

These figures cover wage and salary workers, and exclude self-employed people. They do not show pay by years of experience, and pay for a specific job depends on hours, employer and location.

Updates

The BLS publishes new wage data once a year, and we update the numbers after each release. Each page shows the date it was last checked.