Salary ledger
Where the salary numbers come from
Every job and city page on this site links here instead of repeating it: the source, what "at national prices" means, why we lead with the median, and what the gaps in the data mean.
Common questions
Methodology
From the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey run by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers report what they actually pay, by job and location, so these are payroll figures, not self-reported numbers or job-ad ranges. BLS publishes one release a year, with a May reference date. Each page names the release it uses and the date we last checked for a newer one.
It is the paycheck restated as what it would buy at US-average prices, using the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (US = 100). The math is wage × 100 ÷ parity. In a metro where prices run 12.5% above average, $100,000 buys what about $88,900 buys nationally. It covers everyday prices including housing. It does not account for taxes.
A few very high earners pull the average up, so most people earn less than the "average salary." The median is the middle paycheck: half earn more and half earn less. The percentile range shows the rest. The 25th-to-75th band is where the middle half of workers sit.
Those sites use self-reported salaries or posted job ads, and they skew toward people who choose to share. OEWS surveys employers about their payrolls, so it covers people who never post their pay. OEWS wages include base pay, commissions, production bonuses, and tips. They exclude overtime, shift differentials, and benefits, and they don't cover the self-employed.
BLS withholds estimates that don't meet its reliability standards, usually because too few employers in a metro reported that job. We show "n/a" rather than fill the gap. BLS also top-codes the highest wages, publishing them only as "at or above" a ceiling, and we label those the same way.