The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics provides economic employment data for over 800 occupations in the United States. Published annually, this data provides information on annual and hourly earnings at the 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles in addition to providing mean and median values. While the data is robust, not all jobs are included. The self-employed, owners and partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, and unpaid family workers are excluded.
Nationally the highest mean hourly wages were earned by those in the medical field. Surgeons, cardiologists, radiologist, dermatologists, and anesthesiologists held the highest rates. Although the number of occupations is robust, wage estimates are filtered out in some instances. The lowest paying mean hourly wages were found in the fields of personal care and service work, fast food, and attendant positions.
The highest annual earnings followed a similar trend with the medical field compiling the top spots. Chief executives and airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers had some of the highest annual earnings outside of the medical profession. The lowest annual earnings stayed in line with hourly wages as personal care and service workers, fast food employees, and attendants were the lowest annual earners. This is likely reflective of their status as entry level jobs.
The greatest difference between the 10th percentile and 90th percentiles were seen in the fields of real estate, law, and financial advising. Meanwhile the smallest difference was seen in entry level positions such as fast food employees, personal care, and services workers.
In the state of California, the highest annual median earnings outside of the medical profession were for chief executives, IT managers, lawyers, physicians, architects and engineers. Several medical professions were not able to be evaluated as their wages exceeded the reporting limits of $239,200 per year. On the other end of the spectrum, the lowest median earnings were found in the service industry in positions such as food service, bartending, and gambling attendants.
One interest fact with regard to the data for 2024, information from the state of Colorado was suspended due to data quality concerns. This was the result of issues found with the modernization of the state’s unemployment insurance system. While this may impact the national data as a result of Colorado being excluded from the calculations, Colorado has sufficiently addressed the issues and is expected to be included in data for 2025. (https://www.bls.gov/oes/notices/2024/colorado-data.htm)
Should you need to look deeper at earnings by profession, require an earnings analysis, or be interested in having a damage assessment conducted, please contact Juris Economics at (858) 477-9537 or sales@juriseconomics.com.
