U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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Pay Relatives for Major Metropolitan Areas

by Parastou Karen Shahpoori

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Originally Posted: April 28, 2003

Revision posted: June 16, 2004

To facilitate pay comparisons among major metropolitan areas, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has developed pay relatives, or

ratios of pay, for nine groups of occupations (as well as for all occupations combined) in each of 77 metropolitan areas.

How do the earnings of workers in San Francisco or Houston compare with those of workers in the United States overall?

The National Compensation Survey (NCS), which was introduced in 1997, collects earnings and other data on employee

compensation covering 480 detailed occupations in 154 metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Occupational earnings from

the NCS are published annually for more than 80 metropolitan areas and for the United States as a whole.1

These estimates are produced by surveying a randomly selected sample of occupations. In the NCS, samples of employer

establishments and occupations are selected using a "probability proportionate to size" technique. All establishments and

occupations in the survey are assigned a weight to reflect the probability of their selection in the sample. These weights

reflect the relative size of the occupation within the establishment and the relative size of the establishment within the sample

universe. Occupations that are relatively rare will have less opportunity to contribute to the pay relatives because their

chance of selection in the sample is less than more common occupations.

In order to facilitate comparisons of occupation pay levels across metropolitan areas, BLS has developed pay relatives, or

ratios of pay, for nine groups of occupations (as well as for all occupations) in each of 77 major metropolitan areas and the

United States as a whole.

The pay relative for each occupational group in an area expresses its average pay2 as a percent of the pay for a comparable

occupation group in the entire United States. The pay relative for the United States as whole always equals 100. For

example, the pay relative for all occupations in San Francisco was 119 in 1998, meaning that workers in San Francisco

earned 19 percent more than the U.S. average for comparable workers. The pay relative for Houston was 104, or 4 percent

more than the U.S. average. The pay relatives for each area are expressed in terms of their relation to the U.S. average.

The nine occupation groups used in pay relatives are (1) professional specialty and technical occupations; (2) executive,

administrative, and managerial occupations; (3) sales occupations; (4) administrative support occupations, including clerical;

(5) precision production, craft, and repair occupations; (6) machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors; (7) transportation

and material moving occupations; (8) handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers; and (9) service occupations. 

Table 1 presents 1998 pay relatives for each occupational group in 77 metropolitan areas.

Comparability

There are a number of occupational characteristics that the National Compensation Survey captures that can influence pay

levels, including the mix of occupations and work levels studied, differing workweeks, and survey timing. Since the survey

design calls for "probability proportionate to size" occupational sampling, the occupations selected in one area will not be the

same as those selected in another area. In addition, occupational work levels as well as scheduled hours per week will differ

between areas. Data for each NCS area are published once per year, but the publications are produced in "panels" every 3

months. Thus, the published average reference dates will usually differ between areas. When calculating pay relatives BLS

tries to decrease the effect of these different factors as much as possible. Occupations, levels, workweeks, and reference

dates are taken into account in the computation of pay relatives.

Occupations and levels. The pay relative calculation for each area uses comparable jobs at both the area and national

levels. That is, occupations found in the national database that are not found in the area database are not used in the
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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calculation of pay relatives for that area. For example, if architects are not found in the Denver survey, then national data for

architects are not used in the calculation of pay relatives for Denver.

Similarly, the working "levels" of incumbents within occupations are also comparable between the area and the national

database when calculating pay relatives. These levels reflect knowledge, skills, responsibility, and other factors.3 Levels not

observed within an area’s occupations are not used in the national database for calculating pay relatives. For example, if the

category level-13 architects is not found in the Denver survey, then level-13 architects are removed from the national

estimates and are not used in the calculation of pay relatives for Denver.

Hours adjustment. In the National Compensation Survey, average rates of pay are weighted by the average number of

annual hours worked (and by the number of employees). That is, rates of pay associated with fewer annual hours will not

count as much in the average as rates associated with greater annual hours. The hourly wages of full-time workers count

more than those of part-time workers.

When determining how area earnings compare with national earnings, the average rates of pay calculated for comparable

occupations within the nine occupation groups reflect a comparable composition of occupation annual hours. In order to

maintain comparable annual hours, the total annual hours of work calculated for each occupation in the national database are

also used in the area calculation of average hourly rates of pay for pay relative purposes.

Reference month adjustment. In the National Compensation Survey, data for each area are collected once per year. The

reference date for each area differs depending on when the data were collected. For example, the data used to produce the

1998 estimates for the United States as a whole were compiled from data collected from the 154 NCS localities between July

1997 and April 1999. The average reference date for these 154 areas in the United States was August 1998. Before

calculating the pay relatives for each area, an adjustment was made to the U.S. wage rate to account for differences between

the average reference month for each area and the reference month of August 1998 for the United States as a whole. This

adjustment was based on published estimates of wage change from the Employment Cost Index (ECI).

To calculate the adjustment factor, monthly indexes of wages were interpolated4 from the published ECI quarterly indexes for

all occupations and for each of the region occupation groups. The cumulative change in the wage index between August

1998 and the reference month for a specific area was used to adjust the national wage estimate. The adjusted national wage

estimate was used to calculate the pay relative for the area. For example, to adjust the national estimate of comparable

wages to reflect Denver’s May reference month, the interpolated wage index for all occupations in May is divided by the

interpolated index for August to estimate wage change over the period. This estimate of change is the adjustment, or ECI

factor, applied to the national estimate of comparable average wages. That is, national average comparable wages are

decreased to reflect what they would have been in May. This adjusted estimate is used to calculate the pay relative for

Denver and for any area with a May reference month.

Comparing Wages In Four Cities

Chart 1 compares four of the nine major occupational groups5--professional specialty; executive; administrative support,

including clerical; and service occupations--from four different metropolitan areas of the United States: Cleveland-Akron,

Ohio; Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, Texas; Orlando, Florida; and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California. As shown in

chart, earnings in San Francisco were much higher than the national average for all four occupational groups. (The overall

U.S. rate equals 100.) In Orlando, Florida, on the other hand, the pay relatives for all four occupational groups were below

the U.S. average.6

Differences Between The NCS And Earlier Surveys

The locality wage data produced from the National Compensation Survey differ considerably from those of the survey’s

predecessor--the Occupational Compensation Survey.7 For example, the NCS covers all workers and provides information

on a much broader range of occupations. Occupations surveyed for the NCS are selected using probability techniques from a

list of all occupations present in each establishment. The NCS classification system specifies up to 480 individual
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occupations. Data from the Occupational Compensation Survey, on the other hand, were limited to a preselected list of 38

occupations, which represented only a small subset of all occupations in the economy. Moreover, the former survey did not

use occupational sampling within an establishment.

In the Occupational Compensation Survey, pay relatives were calculated, but only when the data collected for preselected

occupations were judged sufficiently representative of all occupations in the area. The NCS is designed to collect a

representative sample of occupations in each area, and the calculated pay relatives reflect this. Furthermore, the former

survey collected data for full-time workers only, while the NCS collects data for both full- and part-time workers.

Limitations

Pay relatives derived from the National Compensation Survey have certain limitations. For example, they do not take into

account some wage determinants. There are many commonly recognized determinants of wages, including the effects on

average wage rates from different methods of pay (time versus incentive), collective bargaining status (union versus

nonunion), establishment size, and industry. The sample sizes in the NCS area survey are too small to permit estimate pay

relatives for each of these determinants.

Another limitation of pay relatives produced from the National Compensation Survey is that the pay relatives for two different

areas are not strictly comparable. To make precise pay relative comparisons, the mix of occupations and work levels studied,

the differing workweeks, and the average reference periods would need to be adjusted. Currently, such adjustments are

made between each area and the United States as a whole. To compare each area to every other area would require

thousands of additional calculations.

Finally, pay relatives from the National Compensation Survey do not address nonwage compensation. For example, an

architect in Denver may earn $25 per hour and have a health care benefit worth an additional $3 per hour, while an architect

in Houston earning similar pay might not receive a health care benefit. The pay relative only includes the wage

compensation.

Parastou Karen Shahpoori

Economist, Division of Compensation Data Estimation, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Telephone: (202) 691-6290, E-mail: Shahpoori_K@bls.gov

NOTE: This is a revised version of an article that was originally published in April 2003. This version corrects the description

about how work schedules affect the pay comparisons by indicating that annual hours, rather than weekly hours, are used.

This version also revises the last sentence of the second paragraph to clarify how the relative size of occupations affects the

pay relatives calculations. None of the data tables have been changed.

Notes

1 The data used in this article are from 1998, the most recent data available when the article was completed. See National Compensation

Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, 1998, Bulletin 2529 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2000). For more information,

see the National Compensation Survey (NCS) website on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/home.htm.

2 Hourly wages are defined as the straight-time earnings paid to employees before deductions of any type. They exclude premium pay for

overtime, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. Average hourly wages also reflect the hours worked by surveyed occupations.

3 See Appendix C in National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, 1998, Bulletin 2529, for a complete description

of the leveling criteria.

4 Because the ECI is published quarterly (December, May, June and September), the estimates for the months in between have to be

interpolated to relate to the reference month of the area estimates.

5 For the complete list of occupations included in each major occupational group, see Appendix B in National Compensation Survey:

Occupational Wages in the United States, 1998, Bulletin 2529.

6 See table 1 for a complete listing of pay relatives for 77 major metropolitan areas.

7 Occupation Compensation Survey data were last published in Occupational Compensation Survey: National Summary, 1996, Bulletin 2497

(Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 1998).
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Table 1. Pay relatives for major occupational groups in metropolitan areas, National Compensation Survey, 1998 (For

each occupational group, average pay for all industries = 100)

Metropolitan

area

Total

White collar(1) Blue collar(1)

Service

Professional Executive Sales Administrative Precision Machine

operators Transportation Handlers

United

States(2) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Amarillo, TX 87 84 89 96 83 92 82 83 92 84

Anchorage,

AK 110 105 109 111 111 123 101 102 119 116

Atlanta, GA 99 99 103 99 101 96 98 96 101 95

AugustaAiken, GA-SC 94 95 102 93 96 92 98 87 94 85

Austin-San

Marcos, TX 93 90 96 109 93 96 82 93 95 95

Birmingham,

AL 94 89 106 91 92 93 96 79 96 93

Bloomington,

IN 91 91 95 88 91 90 -- 81 92 88

BloomingtonNormal, IL 104 93 -- 95 92 102 117 131 106 106

BostonWorcesterLawrence,

MA-NH-MECT

104 105 98 101 108 103 95 108 108 112

BrownsvilleHarlingenSan Benito,

TX

82 90 86 87 78 77 71 78 72 80

BuffaloNiagra Falls,

NY

100 97 97 90 101 103 107 102 106 107

CharlestonNorth

Charleston,

SC

87 91 88 81 86 81 82 84 87 87

CharlotteGastoniaRock HillHigh Point,

NC-SC

94 88 98 103 97 93 99 97 98 92

Footnotes:

(1) The full titles for the major occupational groups under the white-collar category are professional specialty and technical; executive,

administrative, and managerial; sales; and administrative support, including clerical. The full titles for the groups under the blue-collar category

are precision production, craft, and repair; machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors; transportation and material moving; and handlers,

equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers.

(2) This survey covers all 50 States. Collection was conducted between July 1997 and April 1999. The average reference period was August

1998.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria.
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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Metropolitan

area

Total

White collar(1) Blue collar(1)

Service

Professional Executive Sales Administrative Precision Machine

operators Transportation Handlers

ChicagoGaryKenosha, ILIN-WI

107 102 103 105 109 112 114 117 117 110

CincinnatiHamilton,

OH-KY-IN

95 92 95 95 94 93 94 99 103 99

ClevelandAkron, OH 103 101 104 105 100 103 107 109 108 104

Columbus,

OH 96 94 92 93 98 100 95 96 104 101

Corpus

Christi, TX 89 89 111 96 82 90 93 75 82 82

Dallas-Fort

Worth, TX 95 94 99 91 98 93 93 95 95 93

DaytonSpringfield,

OH

96 94 91 95 93 101 109 102 100 101

DenverBoulderGreeley, CO

97 96 99 97 99 93 87 93 102 102

Detroit-Ann

Arbor-Flint,

MI

110 110 104 107 108 112 121 116 123 106

ElkhartGoshen, IN 99 99 96 88 98 97 104 112 107 97

Fort CollinsLoveland, CO 88 92 85 98 86 86 80 85 84 91

Grand

RapidsMuskegonHolland, MI

103 107 98 107 97 103 111 97 103 106

GreensboroWinstonSalem, NC

97 93 102 106 97 93 95 96 99 95

Greenville,

SC 93 90 97 99 94 91 92 89 98 90

Hartford, CT 109 115 99 106 110 103 100 106 107 119

Honolulu, HI 107 104 103 105 109 115 110 97 105 111

Footnotes:

(1) The full titles for the major occupational groups under the white-collar category are professional specialty and technical; executive,

administrative, and managerial; sales; and administrative support, including clerical. The full titles for the groups under the blue-collar category

are precision production, craft, and repair; machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors; transportation and material moving; and handlers,

equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers.

(2) This survey covers all 50 States. Collection was conducted between July 1997 and April 1999. The average reference period was August

1998.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria.
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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Metropolitan

area

Total

White collar(1) Blue collar(1)

Service

Professional Executive Sales Administrative Precision Machine

operators Transportation Handlers

HoustonGalvestonBrazoria, TX

104 106 113 100 102 104 99 94 97 94

Huntsville,

AL 95 97 101 93 92 91 102 84 92 87

Indianapolis,

IN 99 97 98 106 97 104 103 103 104 98

Iowa City, IA 92 90 95 88 93 88 96 82 91 95

Johnstown,

PA 89 93 91 82 86 83 85 82 89 97

KalamazooBattle Creek,

MI

101 99 97 96 102 100 106 100 113 104

Kansas City,

MO-KS 93 93 88 85 92 97 105 100 103 95

Knoxville, TN 90 91 97 86 87 89 91 81 97 87

Lincoln, NE 88 86 88 85 85 87 89 90 97 91

Los AngelesRiversideOrange

County, CA

107 111 111 116 108 104 89 93 96 108

Louisville,

KY-IN 99 101 97 97 95 101 107 93 101 95

MelbourneTitusvillePalm Bay, FL

86 85 92 82 86 92 80 84 85 85

Memphis,

TN-AR-MS 95 91 100 111 94 95 98 93 98 90

Miami-Fort

Lauderdale,

FL

96 95 102 103 97 94 84 99 95 95

MilwaukeeRacine, WI 99 94 95 89 100 102 107 108 108 103

MinneapolisSt. Paul, MNWI

104 99 97 107 106 106 115 114 114 112

Mobile, AL 89 90 92 96 84 92 90 82 97 86

New Orleans,

LA 94 99 104 94 89 93 87 88 88 88

Footnotes:

(1) The full titles for the major occupational groups under the white-collar category are professional specialty and technical; executive,

administrative, and managerial; sales; and administrative support, including clerical. The full titles for the groups under the blue-collar category

are precision production, craft, and repair; machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors; transportation and material moving; and handlers,

equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers.

(2) This survey covers all 50 States. Collection was conducted between July 1997 and April 1999. The average reference period was August

1998.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria.
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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Metropolitan

area

Total

White collar(1) Blue collar(1)

Service

Professional Executive Sales Administrative Precision Machine

operators Transportation Handlers

New YorkNorthern

New JerseyLong Island,

NY-NJ-CT-PA

116 120 116 110 117 113 98 111 117 122

NorfolkVirginia

BeachNewport

News, VA-NC

90 89 99 91 90 89 96 77 82 87

Oklahoma

City, OK 92 88 95 97 88 93 103 103 91 85

Orlando, FL 88 86 92 91 89 89 84 80 88 87

PhiladelphiaWilmingtonAtlantic City,

PA-NJ-DEMD

108 109 102 111 108 104 109 108 117 109

PhoenixMesa, AZ 96 95 102 110 96 100 88 89 86 95

Pittsburgh,

PA 100 101 99 89 100 98 99 100 110 103

PortlandSalem, ORWA

101 99 98 99 102 104 98 104 102 112

ProvidenceFall RiverWarwick, RIMA

103 108 102 97 107 97 92 107 93 106

RaleighDurhamChapel Hill,

NC

95 91 100 97 96 92 100 97 94 94

Reading, PA 100 108 91 89 96 96 101 94 105 111

Reno, NV 95 96 87 107 97 101 86 96 91 98

RichlandKennewickPasco, WA

99 94 99 89 103 104 92 110 92 105

RichmondPetersburg,

VA

93 92 96 89 94 96 96 87 97 90

Footnotes:

(1) The full titles for the major occupational groups under the white-collar category are professional specialty and technical; executive,

administrative, and managerial; sales; and administrative support, including clerical. The full titles for the groups under the blue-collar category

are precision production, craft, and repair; machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors; transportation and material moving; and handlers,

equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers.

(2) This survey covers all 50 States. Collection was conducted between July 1997 and April 1999. The average reference period was August

1998.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria.
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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Metropolitan

area

Total

White collar(1) Blue collar(1)

Service

Professional Executive Sales Administrative Precision Machine

operators Transportation Handlers

Rochester,

NY 102 105 101 91 97 97 96 98 107 114

Rockford, IL 96 92 97 95 93 99 106 102 105 95

SacramentoYolo, CA 105 103 101 120 105 107 99 107 106 107

Salinas, CA 108 110 104 121 101 111 100 108 107 113

San Antonio,

TX 92 94 104 96 90 85 86 75 84 90

San Diego,

CA 100 105 99 101 104 97 83 95 94 102

San

FranciscoOakland-San

Jose, CA

119 122 114 111 121 118 100 116 119 124

SeattleTacomaBremerton,

WA

105 105 96 105 106 107 105 108 104 112

Springfield,

MA 105 104 103 95 106 94 113 105 103 114

Springfield,

MO 88 87 91 91 81 89 94 92 92 87

St. Louis,

MO-IL 96 94 95 99 93 99 100 96 109 96

Tallahassee,

FL 81 81 84 82 81 78 83 72 77 83

Tampa-St.

PetersburgClearwater,

FL

90 89 96 94 89 87 81 84 85 89

VisaliaTularePorterville,

CA

97 105 98 97 93 89 90 88 92 103

WashingtonBaltimore,

DC-MD-VAWV

103 102 101 101 105 103 106 102 111 103

YoungstownWarren, OH 98 96 101 100 93 98 106 99 99 101

Footnotes:

(1) The full titles for the major occupational groups under the white-collar category are professional specialty and technical; executive,

administrative, and managerial; sales; and administrative support, including clerical. The full titles for the groups under the blue-collar category

are precision production, craft, and repair; machine operators, assemblers, and inspectors; transportation and material moving; and handlers,

equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers.

(2) This survey covers all 50 States. Collection was conducted between July 1997 and April 1999. The average reference period was August

1998.

NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria.
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS COMPENSATION AND WORKING CONDITIONS

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Chart 1. Pay relatives, 1998

Cleveland Houston Orlando San Francisco

Professional 101 106 86 122

Executive 104 113 92 114

Administrative 100 102 89 121

Service 104 94 87 124

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