Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in California (SMU06000000500000003) from Jan 2007 to Apr 2025 about earnings, hours, CA, private, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Construction in California (SMU06000002000000003) from Jan 2007 to Apr 2025 about earnings, hours, construction, CA, employment, and USA.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Jobs by Wage Level (EQ1)

FULL MEASURE NAME Distribution of jobs by low-, middle-, and high-wage occupations

LAST UPDATED January 2019

DESCRIPTION Jobs by wage level refers to the distribution of jobs by low-, middle- and high-wage occupations. In the San Francisco Bay Area, low-wage occupations have a median hourly wage of less than 80% of the regional median wage; median wages for middle-wage occupations range from 80% to 120% of the regional median wage, and high-wage occupations have a median hourly wage above 120% of the regional median wage.

DATA SOURCE California Employment Development Department OES (2001-2017) http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/data/oes-employment-and-wages.html

American Community Survey (2001-2017) http://api.census.gov

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Jobs are determined to be low-, middle-, or high-wage based on the median hourly wage of their occupational classification in the most recent year. Low-wage jobs are those that pay below 80% of the regional median wage. Middle-wage jobs are those that pay between 80% and 120% of the regional median wage. High-wage jobs are those that pay above 120% of the regional median wage. Regional median hourly wages are estimated from the American Community Survey and are published on the Vital Signs Income indicator page. For the national context analysis, occupation wage classifications are unique to each metro area. A low-wage job in New York, for instance, may be a middle-wage job in Miami. For the Bay Area in 2017, the median hourly wage for low-wage occupations was less than $20.86 per hour. For middle-wage jobs, the median ranged from $20.86 to $31.30 per hour; and for high-wage jobs, the median wage was above $31.30 per hour.

Occupational employment and wage information comes from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Regional and subregional data is published by the California Employment Development Department. Metro data is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The OES program collects data on wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments to produce employment and wage estimates for some 800 occupations. Data from non-incorporated self-employed persons are not collected, and are not included in these estimates. Wage estimates represent a three-year rolling average.

Due to changes in reporting during the analysis period, subregion data from the EDD OES have been aggregated to produce geographies that can be compared over time. West Bay is San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. North Bay is Sonoma, Solano and Napa counties. East Bay is Alameda and Contra Costa counties. South Bay is Santa Clara County from 2001-2004 and Santa Clara and San Benito counties from 2005-2017.

Due to changes in occupation classifications during the analysis period, all occupations have been reassigned to 2010 SOC codes. For pre-2009 reporting years, all employment in occupations that were split into two or more 2010 SOC occupations are assigned to the first 2010 SOC occupation listed in the crosswalk table provided by the Census Bureau. This method assumes these occupations always fall in the same wage category, and sensitivity analysis of this reassignment method shows this is true in most cases.

In order to use OES data for time series analysis, several steps were taken to handle missing wage or employment data. For some occupations, such as airline pilots and flight attendants, no wage information was provided and these were removed from the analysis. Other occupations did not record a median hourly wage (mostly due to irregular work hours) but did record an annual average wage. Nearly all these occupations were in education (i.e. teachers). In this case, a 2080 hour-work year was assumed and [annual average wage/2080] was used as a proxy for median income. Most of these occupations were classified as high-wage, thus dispelling concern of underestimating a median wage for a teaching occupation that requires less than 2080 hours of work a year (equivalent to 12 months fulltime). Finally, the OES has missing employment data for occupations across the time series. To make the employment data comparable between years, gaps in employment data for occupations are ‘filled-in’ using linear interpolation if there are at least two years of employment data found in OES. Occupations with less than two years of employment data were dropped from the analysis. Over 80% of interpolated cells represent missing employment data for just one year in the time series. While this interpolating technique may impact year-over-year comparisons, the long-term trends represented in the analysis generally are accurate.

In 2023, the average annual wage in California was 91,700 U.S. dollars, an increase from the year prior, when the average wage in the U.S. state was 87,919. The average annual wages are expected to rise in California, with the annual wage in 2027 estimated to reach over 105,000 U.S. dollars.

Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of Production Employees: Information: Motion Picture and Video Industries in California (SMU06000005051210008) from Jan 2001 to Apr 2025 about video, audio-visual, information, hours, production, CA, employment, industry, and USA.

California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (MSA) was 34.98000 $ per Hour in January of 2021, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (MSA) reached a record high of 34.98000 in January of 2021 and a record low of 23.53000 in January of 2008. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (MSA) - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on April of 2025.

California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA (MSA) was 35.98000 $ per Hour in January of 2024, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA (MSA) reached a record high of 35.98000 in January of 2024 and a record low of 22.22000 in January of 2007. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA (MSA) - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on May of 2025.

Average weekly earnings, average hourly wage rate and average usual weekly hours by union status and type of work, last 5 years.

Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Leisure and Hospitality in California (SMU06000007000000003) from Jan 2007 to Apr 2025 about leisure, hospitality, earnings, hours, CA, employment, and USA.

Number of employees, average hourly and weekly earnings (including overtime), and average weekly hours for the industrial aggregate excluding unclassified businesses, last 5 months.

California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (MSA) was 43.86000 $ per Hour in January of 2021, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (MSA) reached a record high of 43.86000 in January of 2021 and a record low of 29.92000 in January of 2007. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (MSA) - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on April of 2025.

California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (MSA) was 49.11000 $ per Hour in January of 2021, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (MSA) reached a record high of 49.11000 in January of 2021 and a record low of 35.95000 in January of 2008. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (MSA) - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on April of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Goods Producing in California (SMU06000000600000003) from Jan 2007 to Apr 2025 about earnings, hours, production, CA, goods, employment, and USA.

Average hourly earnings (including overtime) for salaried employees, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), last 5 months.

Average usual hours and wages of employees (full- and part-time) by age group, gender, union coverage, job permanency, and National Occupational Classification (NOC). Data are presented for 24 months earlier, 12 months earlier and current month, as well as 24-month and year-over-year level change and percentage change.

Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Private Service Providing in California (DISCONTINUED) was 36.58894 $ per Hour in March of 2022, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Private Service Providing in California (DISCONTINUED) reached a record high of 37.00084 in January of 2022 and a record low of 23.91112 in January of 2008. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Private Service Providing in California (DISCONTINUED) - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on May of 2025.

Average full-time hourly wage paid and payroll employment by type of work, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and National Occupational Classification (NOC), 2016 and 2017.

In 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hourly mean wage of nurse practitioners in the United States stood at 61.78 U.S. dollars. With an hourly mean wage of 77.66 U.S. dollars, registered nurses in California had the highest wages, followed by Nevada and Washington. On the other hand, Tennessee had the lowest hourly mean wages for nurse practitioners in 2023.

In 2024, households in California needed an hourly wage of over 47 U.S. dollars to afford the rent of a two-bedroom apartment. Massachusetts had the second-least affordable two-bedroom apartments, as a household would have to earn at least around 45 U.S. dollars per hour in order to afford rent payments. These figures are considerably higher than the average minimum wage in place in many states. There was no state in which a minimum wage worker could afford rent for the average two-bedroom apartment, if they only worked 40 hours a week. Where are the least affordable counties and metros? The least affordable rents were predominately in Californian counties and metropolitan areas in 2024. District of Columbia has one of the highest minimum wages in the country, which stood at 17 U.S. dollars per hour as of January 2024. Thus, the affordability of two-bedroom apartments highlights how disproportionately high housing costs are in the state.

California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Bakersfield, CA (MSA) was 31.76000 $ per Hour in March of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Bakersfield, CA (MSA) reached a record high of 32.08000 in May of 2024 and a record low of 20.47000 in May of 2007. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for California - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees: Total Private in Bakersfield, CA (MSA) - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on May of 2025.