National Compensation Survey
Welcome to the step-by-step guide on how to use the National Compensation Survey one-screen query system
National Compensation Survey: The National Compensation Survey (NCS) program produces information on wages by occupation for many metropolitan areas and also for the nation as a whole. Wage rates for different work levels within occupational groups also are published. Data are available for private industry, State and local governments, full-time workers, part-time workers, and other workforce categories.
This tool lets users query the BLS databases for specific data series. For each survey and program, make a selection for each characteristic in the order listed. As you make your selection, the remaining characteristics will filter to show only choices where data are available. After choosing the series, click on “Add to selection.” If you need more data series, repeat the steps of choosing the data series you need. After you've finished finding the data series you need, click on the “Get Data” button to retrieve the data, and an HTML table with data for the most recent 10 years will display. If you desire a different time period or format, you may modify the options on the data display page, or click on the “More Formatting Options” button for additional options on refining the data retrieval results. Note: Users may not retrieve more than 200 data series in one query.
Users have the option of viewing occupations within an area or areas within an occupation. Click on the radio button next to the desired view.
Type all or part of a search string in the search text box. The contents of the box will filter to show only those options that contain the search string.
Click on the geographic area of interest to select it. Choose from over 150 areas within the United States. The State titles are included for reference only. If the occupations within an area view is used, the available occupations for that area will automatically appear in the Occupation window to the right.
Type all or part of a search string in the search text box. The contents of the box will filter to show only those options that contain the search string.
Click on the occupation of interest to select it. A worker is classified into one of more than 800 unique occupations as well as occupational groups. If the areas within an occupation view is used, the available areas for that occupation will automatically appear in the Area window to the right. The indentations in the Occupations list indicate a hierarchy—indented occupations aggregate up to the next higher level.
Click on the work level of interest to select it. Work levels are based on the Federal General Schedule (GS) scale, where higher GS levels relate to higher skill levels for any given occupation. Users may select any work level available; the result will be either a published wage estimate or a modeled wage estimate. Published estimates are tabulated from data collected from survey respondents. These data are reviewed and meet BLS publication criteria. Modeled wage estimates are derived using linear regression techniques. Publication criteria are not applied to modeled estimates. The "Overall Occupation Average (no work level)" category refers to the mean hourly wage for all workers in the selected occupation and is always a published estimate for locality-based estimates as well as for regional and national estimates.
You must make a selection for each of the characteristics in the order listed. Once you have selected all of the characteristics, the “Add to selection” button becomes active. Click the “Add to selection” button to list the selected data series in the “Your selection” box. You can return to the characteristics boxes and make new selections to request additional data series. Click the "Get Data" button to retrieve all the selected data series.
You must make a selection for each of the characteristics in the order listed. Once you have selected all of the characteristics, the “Get Data button” becomes active. Click to retrieve the data.
Last Modified Date: February 20, 2018
United States Department of Labor
