San Francisco is Metro Area with Highest Average Pay

The San Francisco area has the highest average pay of any metropolitan area in the United States, according to a report by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. On September 26, 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the findings from a study by the National Compensation Survey of compensation in 78 metropolitan areas across the United States.

The study ranked metropolitan areas by "pay relatives," a calculation of pay (wages, salaries, commissions, and bonuses) for a given metropolitan area relative to the nation as a whole. The calculation controls for differences among areas in occupational composition, establishment and occupational characteristics, and the fact that data are collected for areas at different times during the year.

According to the report, average pay in the San Francisco metropolitan area was nineteen percent above the national average in 2006 and was the highest among the 78 metropolitan areas for which the Bureau compared pay levels.

The areas with the next highest average pay levels compared to the national average were New York, Northern New Jersey, Long Island (fourteen percent above average); Salinas, California (thirteen percent above average); Boston, Worcester, Lawrence, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut (twelve percent above average).

The metropolitan area with the lowest average pay was Brownsville, Texas, with an average pay in 2006 that was twenty-two percent below the national average. The next areas farthest below the national average was Corpus Christi, Texas; Great Falls, Montana; Johnston, Pennsylvania; and Springfield, Missouri (each thirteen percent below average).

The areas with the highest average pay for professional occupations were Salinas, California; San Francisco, California; New York, Northern New Jersey, Long Island; Providence and Fall River, Rhode Island and Warwick, Massachusetts; and San Diego, California.

In the management, business and financial sector, the areas with the highest average pay were Salinas, California; New York, Northern New Jersey, Long Island and San Francisco, California; Providence and Fall River, Rhode Island and Warwick, Massachusetts; and Hartford, Connecticut.

For production occupations, the areas with the highest average pay were Detroit, Ann Arbor and Flint, Michigan; Mobile, Alabama and Seattle, Tacoma and Bremerton, Washington; Anchorage, Alaska; Charleston, South Carolina, Hartford, Connecticut, and Salinas, California; and Providence and Fall River, Rhode Island and Warwick, Massachusetts.

The National Compensation Survey was introduced in 1997, and collects earnings data for 800 occupations in 152 metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Average occupational pay from the National Compensation Survey is published annually for 78 metropolitan areas and for the United States as a whole.

The 2006 report on occupational pay comparisons is available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ncspay.pdf