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For the nation as a whole, total compensation costs for private industry workers increased 4.1 percent over the year ended December 2023. Among the nation's 15 largest metropolitan areas, costs increased 5.5 percent in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, Florida, and 5.2 percent in Houston-The Woodlands, Texas, during 2023.
Month | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL | Houston-The Woodlands, TX | Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA | Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD | Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA | New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA | Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mar 2019 |
2.5 | 1.4 | 3.5 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 3.1 |
Jun 2019 |
1.6 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 3.9 | 2.3 | 3.4 |
Sep 2019 |
2.2 | 1.7 | 3.7 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 2.3 | 3.6 |
Dec 2019 |
2.3 | 1.9 | 3.4 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 2.4 | 3.3 |
Mar 2020 |
1.9 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
Jun 2020 |
1.8 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 3.7 |
Sep 2020 |
1.5 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 3.3 |
Dec 2020 |
1.5 | 2.7 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 3.8 |
Mar 2021 |
3.4 | 1.1 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 3.9 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.6 |
Jun 2021 |
2.4 | 1.7 | 4.5 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 3.7 |
Sep 2021 |
4.1 | 2.3 | 5.5 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 4.6 |
Dec 2021 |
5.2 | 3.5 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.9 |
Mar 2022 |
4.3 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 5.5 |
Jun 2022 |
6.3 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.5 |
Sep 2022 |
6.7 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.5 |
Dec 2022 |
6.3 | 3.1 | 5.7 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
Mar 2023 |
6.1 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 5.7 | 5.5 | 4.6 | 3.8 | 4.6 |
Jun 2023 |
5.8 | 3.3 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 5.2 | 4.6 | 4.1 | 3.9 |
Sep 2023 |
5.2 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 3.5 |
Dec 2023 |
5.5 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
Month | Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs, GA | Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI | Seattle-Tacoma, WA | Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI | Dallas-Fort Worth, TX | Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT | San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mar 2019 |
2.3 | 1.9 | -0.2 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 3.0 | ||||||||
Jun 2019 |
2.5 | 2.7 | -0.4 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 2.6 | ||||||||
Sep 2019 |
3.3 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.4 | ||||||||
Dec 2019 |
3.1 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 2.6 | ||||||||
Mar 2020 |
3.6 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 3.7 | ||||||||
Jun 2020 |
3.3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 2.9 | ||||||||
Sep 2020 |
2.5 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.5 | ||||||||
Dec 2020 |
2.9 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.5 | ||||||||
Mar 2021 |
2.3 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.2 | ||||||||
Jun 2021 |
2.4 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | ||||||||
Sep 2021 |
2.3 | 2.6 | 5.2 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.0 | ||||||||
Dec 2021 |
2.5 | 3.3 | 6.3 | 4.4 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 2.8 | ||||||||
Mar 2022 |
3.3 | 4.6 | 7.8 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 5.6 | 3.6 | ||||||||
Jun 2022 |
4.3 | 4.8 | 8.7 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 4.5 | ||||||||
Sep 2022 |
5.0 | 5.6 | 3.0 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 5.6 | 4.5 | ||||||||
Dec 2022 |
4.4 | 4.9 | 3.2 | 4.9 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 4.6 | ||||||||
Mar 2023 |
5.1 | 4.1 | 2.6 | 4.0 | 5.2 | 3.9 | 4.4 | ||||||||
Jun 2023 |
4.3 | 4.3 | 1.9 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 4.3 | ||||||||
Sep 2023 |
4.0 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 3.3 | ||||||||
Dec 2023 |
3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.7 | ||||||||
Note: These data are not seasonally adjusted. |
Private industry compensation costs were up by 4.5 percent over the year in Los Angeles-Long Beach, California, and 4.4 percent in Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD and Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA.
Among the largest over-the-year changes in compensation costs since 2019 were increases of 8.7 percent (June 2022) and 7.8 percent (March 2022) in Seattle-Tacoma, Washington. The Seattle area also had a change that was among the smallest over the period, with costs 0.4 percent lower over the year from June 2018 to June 2019.
These data are from the Employment Cost Index program. To learn more, see "Employment Cost Index — December 2023." Also see charts of Employment Cost Index data. Total compensation is defined as the sum of wages and salaries plus benefits.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Miami area compensation costs up 5.5 percent over the year ended December 2023 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/miami-area-compensation-costs-up-5-5-percent-over-the-year-ended-december-2023.htm (visited March 22, 2025).