Earnings highest in Middle Atlantic division

The Middle Atlantic division ranked highest in average hourly earnings in July 2002. This division includes the states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

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Private industry and State and local government workers in the Middle Atlantic States earned an average of $19.79 per hour. Workers in the Pacific States had the next highest earnings at $19.08 per hour, followed by the New England States ($18.61 per hour). The division with the lowest hourly earnings was East South Central, with mean earnings of $14.19 per hour.

Mean hourly wages for private industry and State and local government workers in the country as a whole were $17.18 per hour in July 2002.

These data are from the BLS National Compensation Survey program. Learn more in National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the United States, July 2002, Summary 03-02 (PDF 539K). Note that the Middle Atlantic division also includes the New York City metropolitan area—which consists of parts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut—and the Philadelphia area—which consists of parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.