Workers in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $38.69 in May 2021, 38-percent above the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in all of the 22 major occupational groups.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Washington area employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and management. Eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, transportation and material moving, and office and administrative support. (See table A.)

One occupational group—business and financial—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Washington had 360,640 jobs in business and financial operation, accounting for 12.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $48.45, significantly above the national wage of $39.72.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the business and financial operations group included management analysts (64,320), and accountants and auditors (41,850). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were personal financial advisors and agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes, with mean hourly wages of $66.95 and $63.36, respectively. (See chart 1.) At the lower end of the wage scale were tax preparers ($26.25) and credit counselors ($28.72). (Detailed data for the business and financial operations occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_47900.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Washington area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the business and financial operations group. For instance, management analysts were employed at 4.0 times the national rate in Washington, and meeting, convention, and event planners, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. Loan officers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Washington, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, the Virginia Employment Commission, the Maryland Department of Labor, and Workforce West Virginia.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area included 14,129 establishments with a response rate of 64 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area includes District of Columbia, DC; Calvert County, MD; Charles County, MD; Frederick County, MD; Montgomery County, MD; Prince George's County, MD; Alexandria city, VA; Arlington County, VA; Clarke County, VA; Culpeper County, VA; Fairfax city, VA; Fairfax County, VA; Falls Church city, VA; Fauquier County, VA; Fredericksburg city, VA; Loudoun County, VA; Manassas city, VA; Manassas Park city, VA; Prince William County, VA; Rappahannock County, VA; Spotsylvania County, VA; Stafford County, VA; Warren County, VA; and Jefferson County, WV

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for business and financial operations occupations, Washington metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Business and financial operations occupations	360,640	1.9	$48.45	$100,780
Agents and business managers of artists, performers, and athletes	140	0.6	63.36	131,780
Buyers and purchasing agents	16,250	1.8	43.21	89,880
Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators	2,770	0.5	37.46	77,910
Insurance appraisers, auto damage	230	1.0	35.53	73,900
Compliance officers	12,720	1.8	44.87	93,340
Cost estimators	4,280	1.0	40.10	83,400
Human resources specialists	26,510	1.7	43.94	91,400
Labor relations specialists	800	0.6	46.27	96,240
Logisticians	6,400	1.6	46.86	97,470
Project management specialists	29,870	1.9	55.07	114,540
Management analysts	64,320	4.0	54.53	113,420
Meeting, convention, and event planners	4,430	2.2	33.19	69,020
Fundraisers	3,840	2.3	35.77	74,410
Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialists	2,140	1.2	41.09	85,460
Training and development specialists	9,500	1.4	37.70	78,410
Market research analysts and marketing specialists	20,060	1.3	41.56	86,440
Business operations specialists, all other	71,350	3.3	49.08	102,090
Accountants and auditors	41,850	1.5	47.91	99,640
Property appraisers and assessors	830	0.7	40.74	84,750
Budget analysts	4,380	4.4	51.14	106,380
Credit analysts	1,050	0.7	44.89	93,370
Financial and investment analysts	11,440	1.9	52.74	109,700
Personal financial advisors	4,740	0.9	66.95	139,260
Insurance underwriters	2,330	1.0	35.44	73,710
Financial risk specialists	1,510	1.3	55.15	114,710
Financial examiners	1,460	1.2	60.38	125,590
Credit counselors	720	1.1	28.72	59,730
Loan officers	6,250	0.9	47.84	99,500
Tax examiners and collectors, and revenue agents	620	0.6	40.13	83,460
Tax preparers	1,720	1.0	26.25	54,590
Financial specialists, all other	6,140	2.4	51.33	106,770
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_47900.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a 'year-round, full-time' hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.