This graph displays the twenty largest occupation groups in the United States as of May 2023, ranked by annual mean wage. The annual mean wage among the 7.7 million retail sales workers in the U.S. stood at 34,520 U.S. dollars in 2023.

As of 2023, the median wage for employees in healthcare support occupations was about 36,140 U.S. dollars. The occupational group with the highest annual median wage was management occupations. Mean wages for the same occupational groups can be accessed here.

Graph and download economic data for Employed: Paid below prevailing federal minimum wage: Wage and salary workers: Transportation and material moving occupations: 16 years and over (LEU0204843900A) from 2000 to 2024 about paid, occupation, materials, minimum wage, salaries, workers, transportation, 16 years +, federal, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Median usual weekly nominal earnings (second quartile): Wage and salary workers: Computer programmers occupations: 16 years and over: Men (LEU0254637300A) from 2000 to 2024 about second quartile, computers, occupation, full-time, males, salaries, workers, earnings, 16 years +, wages, median, employment, and USA.

Gross weekly and hourly earnings by level of occupation, UK, quarterly, not seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Dancers and choreographers occupations: 16 years and over: Men (LEU0254592400A) from 2000 to 2024 about occupation, full-time, males, salaries, workers, 16 years +, wages, employment, and USA.

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual mail survey of employers that measures occupational employment and occupational wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments, by industry. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 41,400 establishments. Each year, forms are mailed to two semiannual panels of approximately 6,900 sampled establishments, one panel in May and the other in November.

In 2023, many of the highest paying jobs were those in the medical field. The mean annual pay for psychiatrists was at 256,930 U.S. dollars in the United States. The highest paying occupation was pediatric surgeon, with a mean annual wage of 449,320 U.S. dollars.

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) program conducts a semi-annual survey to produce estimates of employment and wages for specific occupations. The OES program collects data on wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in order to produce employment and wage estimates for about 800 occupations. Data from self-employed persons are not collected and are not included in the estimates. The OES program produces these occupational estimates by geographic area and by industry. Estimates based on geographic areas are available at the National, State, Metropolitan, and Nonmetropolitan Area levels. The Bureau of Labor Statistics produces occupational employment and wage estimates for over 450 industry classifications at the national level. The industry classifications correspond to the sector, 3-, 4-, and 5-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industrial groups. More information and details about the data provided can be found at http://www.bls.gov/oes

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Bakers occupations: 16 years and over: Men (LEU0254620400A) from 2000 to 2024 about occupation, full-time, males, salaries, workers, 16 years +, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Survey researchers occupations: 16 years and over: Women (LEU0257864200A) from 2011 to 2024 about occupation, females, full-time, salaries, workers, 16 years +, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Helpers, construction trades occupations: 16 years and over: Women (LEU0254721000A) from 2000 to 2024 about occupation, females, full-time, salaries, workers, trade, 16 years +, construction, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Waiters and waitresses occupations: 16 years and over (LEU0254493400A) from 2000 to 2024 about occupation, full-time, salaries, workers, 16 years +, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Construction and extraction occupations: 16 years and over (LEU0254505100Q) from Q1 2000 to Q1 2025 about extraction, occupation, full-time, salaries, workers, 16 years +, construction, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Service occupations: 16 years and over: Women (LEU0254703600Q) from Q1 2000 to Q1 2025 about occupation, females, full-time, salaries, workers, 16 years +, wages, services, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Actors occupations: 16 years and over: Men (LEU0254592100A) from 2000 to 2024 about actors, occupation, full-time, males, salaries, workers, 16 years +, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers occupations: 16 years and over: Women (LEU0254712500A) from 2000 to 2024 about administrative, occupation, females, full-time, salaries, workers, 16 years +, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Wage and salary workers: Occupational therapists occupations: 16 years and over: Men (LEU0254594900A) from 2000 to 2024 about occupation, full-time, males, salaries, workers, 16 years +, wages, employment, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Median usual weekly nominal earnings (second quartile): Wage and salary workers: Service occupations: 16 years and over (LEU0254543400Q) from Q1 2000 to Q1 2025 about second quartile, occupation, full-time, salaries, workers, earnings, 16 years +, wages, services, median, employment, and USA.