How to find Current Wage Data by Job Title for the US, States and Metro Areas

Occasionally, we get a custom data request for wage data by job title and city to help HR professionals figure out appropriate salaries for their teams. Below are 2 different current government datasets with wage data by job title.

Census Bureau Data: A Peek into the National Job Landscape

First up, the Census Bureau offers insights into detailed occupation data through their American Community Survey with tables for Detailed Occupation (B24114) and the corresponding Median Earnings (B24121). Unfortunately, the most detailed occupation tables they offer are only available at the national level, but are still a handy first step.

Detailed Occupation table B24114 provides information about the population in various job categories. You can explore it at this link:
https://data.census.gov/table?q=B24114&g=010XX00US&y=2021

Detailed Occupation By Median Earnings table B24121 is all about the median earnings in the past 12 months for the detailed occupation table above. Check it out at this link.
https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2021.B24121?q=occupation

These tables provide a window into the job market in the United States, offering crucial insights into the population of workers and the earnings they bring home. Let’s use Project Management Specialists as an example:

For the 5-year estimate in 2021, the number of Project Management Specialists was 737,973, with median earnings of $93,970.

Not sure what the American Community Survey is? No problem! you can check out this handy FAQ on our website here: What is the American Community Survey?

BLS Data: Zooming In on Salaries

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) takes it a step further by offering detailed data on salaries, not just at the national level but also by state and even metropolitan areas. The metropolitan area data are as close as you can get to city wage data using government datasets. At the moment the most current data BLS has is for 2022, and here’s how to access it:

For a broad overview of national wage data, check out the BLS’s national data at this link. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm

If you’re considering a specific state, like Texas, you can dive into wage data at the state level with this link: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm
If you’re looking for data at a more localized level, the BLS breaks it down further by metropolitan areas and you may select your area of interest with this link: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm

With the BLS data, we now know that for Project Management Specialists in 2022 there are:

Career Level Wages

Along with the salary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you’ll also have the option to download additional hourly and annual 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentile wages.

These can help you better understand entry-level wages vs senior-level wages for the same jobs. Awareness of the wage ranges at different career levels is crucial to remain competitive in the job market.

With this we can now identify that the wage for a junior-level project manager in Austin-Round Rock will be about $67K annually, compared to the senior-level at around $151K.

Don’t have time to pull this data yourself? Or are you also interested in other datasets like demographics of the area workforce? We’re here to help! Let us know what data you need in a Custom Data Request, or call us at 1-800-939-2130.