Methodology

Every figure on StateSalary is a transcription of, or a simple calculation from, a cited federal release. This page documents which releases, what the figures represent, and the known limits.

Data sources

Wages — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Wage figures are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, May 2025 estimates. OEWS surveys roughly 1.1 million establishments over three years and covers wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments. We use the state file state_M2025_dl.xlsx and the national file national_M2025_dl.xlsx, cross-industry rows only (NAICS 000000, all ownerships), and read:

• A_MEAN, A_MEDIAN — annual mean and median wage
• A_PCT10, A_PCT25, A_PCT75, A_PCT90 — annual wage percentiles
• H_MEAN, H_MEDIAN — hourly mean and median wage
• TOT_EMP — employment

Occupation pages use BLS’s own national estimates for the national figures, and the state rows for each state. The “highest-paying” and “most common” occupation lists on state pages use all detailed occupations in the state file.

Price levels — BEA Regional Price Parities

Regional Price Parities (RPP) for 2024 come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, table SARPP (line 1 “All items”, line 3 “Services: Housing”). RPP measures each state’s price level relative to the U.S. (US = 100). 2024 is the latest year published.

Household income and earnings — Census ACS

Median household income (B19013), median family income (B19113), per-capita income (B19301) and median earnings by sex and work experience (B20017) are from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, in 2024 dollars.

Computed figures

• Cost-of-living adjusted wage = wage × 100 ÷ RPP. It answers “what would this wage buy at national-average prices?” It is not an inflation adjustment and ignores taxes.
• Monthly, bi-weekly and weekly pay = annual wage ÷ 12, 26 and 52. These are gross (pre-tax) amounts.
• Hourly percentiles not published by BLS (25th/75th on occupation pages) = annual ÷ 2,080 hours.
• Ranks are among the 50 states plus DC (51 areas), highest = #1.
• Take-home pay calculator uses 2026 federal brackets and standard deductions (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), the 2026 Social Security wage base of $184,500 and Medicare rates; state tax is a user-entered effective rate. See the calculator page for what is excluded.

What the numbers mean

Mean vs. median. The mean is the arithmetic average; high earners pull it up. The median is the wage at which half of workers earn more and half less — use it for “what does a typical worker make?” More on mean vs. median.

Annual vs. hourly. For occupations such as teachers, BLS publishes only annual wages because many workers are paid for a school year rather than 2,080 hours; we show those as annual only.

Employment is the number of wage and salary jobs; it excludes the self-employed.

Known limitations

• Suppression. Where BLS does not publish an estimate (* or **), we show an em dash. We never estimate or carry forward values.
• Top-coding. BLS reports some very high wages only as “$115.00 per hour or $239,200 per year or more” (#); we show these as “$239,200+”.
• Coverage. OEWS excludes self-employed, farm and private-household workers.
• Reference period. May 2025 figures reflect wages in that survey period. They are not forecasts and are not adjusted for later wage growth.
• Different vintages. Wages (May 2025), prices (2024) and household income (2024) come from different years because each agency publishes on its own schedule; we always use the latest release available.
• Geography. State figures average over metro and rural areas; pay in a big metro can differ substantially from the state figure.

Update cadence

• OEWS — annually, in spring (May reference period of the prior year)
• BEA RPP — annually, in December
• ACS 1-year — annually, in September

Pages were last regenerated on 2026-10-05.

Reproducing our numbers

1. Download oesm25st.zip from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.
2. Filter to AREA_TITLE = your state and NAICS = 000000.
3. For all occupations, take the row with OCC_CODE = 00-0000; for a specific occupation, use its SOC code (shown on each occupation page).

RPP values reproduce from bea.gov table SARPP for 2024; ACS values from data.census.gov tables B19013, B19113, B19301 and B20017 (2024, 1-year, state level).