Methodology

Measure	Pay
Mean hourly wage
Median annual wage
Mean annual wage
Median hourly wage
Total employment

Every salary figure on this site comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — May 2025 estimates (released April 2026), retrieved 2026-10-09.

OEWS is a federal survey of employers. 'Median' is the 50th percentile wage; 'mean' is the arithmetic average. Annual figures assume full-time, year-round work (2,080 hours). Employment estimates exclude the self-employed.

Where the BLS suppresses a series (small samples or confidentiality), we omit the page or label it unavailable — we never estimate or interpolate missing figures.

Comparisons ('X% above the national median') are computed directly from the published BLS medians. Rankings are computed from the same dataset.

Every figure is traceable to its BLS series. Series IDs follow the documented BLS anatomy: OE + U + area-type letter (N national, S state, M metro) + 7-digit area code + 000000 (all industries) + 6-digit SOC occupation code + 2-digit datatype (01 employment, 03 mean hourly, 04 mean annual, 08 median hourly, 13 median annual). Worked example: OEUS060000000000029114113 = California, Registered Nurses, median annual wage, May 2025 estimates. Any figure on this site can be looked up verbatim in the BLS Public Data API with that ID.

Data is refreshed annually when the BLS releases new OEWS estimates, typically each spring.

Sources & methodology. All figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates (released April 2026), retrieved 2026-10-09. "Median" is the 50th percentile — half of workers earn more, half earn less. "Mean" is the arithmetic average. Annual figures assume full-time, year-round work (2,080 hours). Employment estimates exclude the self-employed. Figures are rounded survey estimates, not job offers — actual pay varies by employer, shift, experience, and certifications.