Workers in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $32.99 in May 2022, 11 percent above the nationwide average of $29.76, 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 13 of the 22 major occupational groups, including educational instruction and library, computer and mathematical, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Two groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages: arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media and construction and extraction.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Baltimore area employment was more highly concentrated in 11 of the 22 occupational groups, including computer and mathematical, management, and business and financial operations. Ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including production, food preparation and serving related, and healthcare support. (See table A.)

One occupational group—computer and mathematical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Baltimore had 65,950 jobs in computer and mathematical, accounting for 5.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 3.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $57.04, significantly above the national wage of $51.99.

  

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Chart 1. Hourly mean wages for higher paying computer and mathematical occupations in the Baltimore metropolitan area, May 2022

Occupation	Wage
All occupations	$32.99
Computer and mathematical occupations	57.04
Database architects	73.76
Computer network architects	72.19
Software developers	67.24
Information security analysts	65.60
Computer and information research scientists	62.77

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the computer and mathematical group included software developers (14,230), computer systems analysts (6,490), and information security analysts (4,720). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were database architects and computer network architects, with mean hourly wages of $73.76 and $72.19, respectively (See chart 1). At the lower end of the wage scale were computer user support specialists ($28.42) and web and digital interface designers ($39.65). (Detailed data for the computer and mathematical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12580.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 Baltimore area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the computer and mathematical group. For instance, information security analysts were employed at 3.3 times the national rate in Baltimore, and software quality assurance analysts and testers, at 2.7 times the U.S. average. Software developers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Baltimore, 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 Maryland Department of Labor.

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 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,693 establishments with a response rate of 68 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 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anne Arundel County, Baltimore city, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Harford County, Howard County, and Queen Anne's County.

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.