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News Release Information

25-595-CHI
Monday, May 19, 2025

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Occupational Employment and Wages in Ann Arbor — May 2024

Workers in the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $34.37 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Julie Wilson noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($68.49), legal ($62.15), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($52.98). Lower paying occupations included personal care and service ($17.43) and food preparation and serving related ($17.71). (See table A.)

Educational instruction and library occupations accounted for 13.5 percent of Ann Arbor area employment, followed by healthcare practitioners and technical occupations (12.6 percent) and office and administrative support occupations (11.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); protective service (1.3 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.4 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Ann Arbor metropolitan area, May 2024
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Ann Arbor United States Ann Arbor

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 32.66 34.37

Management

7.1 6.2 68.15 68.49

Business and financial operations

6.7 5.5 45.04 42.17

Computer and mathematical

3.4 3.4 56.16 48.67

Architecture and engineering

1.7 2.8 49.99 49.45

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 1.7 43.12 40.31

Community and social service

1.7 2.5 30.31 26.41

Legal

0.8 0.5 66.19 62.15

Educational instruction and library

5.8 13.5 31.69 33.08

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.4 37.04 31.86

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.2 12.6 50.59 52.98

Healthcare support

4.8 4.7 19.06 19.58

Protective service

2.4 1.3 29.33 28.59

Food preparation and serving related

8.8 7.4 17.32 17.71

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.4 19.01 19.25

Personal care and service

2.0 3.3 18.95 17.43

Sales and related

8.7 6.1 26.00 28.30

Office and administrative support

11.8 11.1 24.12 22.94

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 20.06 19.83

Construction and extraction

4.1 1.8 30.73 32.08

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 2.7 29.63 29.87

Production

5.7 4.2 24.08 23.87

Transportation and material moving

8.9 4.6 23.44 23.89

One occupational group—educational instruction and library—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Ann Arbor had 29,510 jobs in educational instruction and library, accounting for 13.5 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average annual wage for this occupational group locally was $68,810, compared to the national wage of $65,900.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the educational instruction and library group included postsecondary teaching assistants (12,930) and tutors (1,840). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were postsecondary political science teachers with mean annual wages of $160,020 and postsecondary engineering teachers ($158,810). At the lower end of the wage scale were teaching assistants, except postsecondary, ($33,990); museum technicians and conservators ($37,470); and tutors ($37,860). (Detailed data for the educational instruction and library occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0011460.)

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 2.00 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Ann Arbor area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the educational instruction and library group. For instance, postsecondary teaching assistants were employed at 59.04 times the national rate in Ann Arbor, and postsecondary engineering teachers at 12.59 times the U.S. average. Self-enrichment teachers had a location quotient of 0.98 in Ann Arbor, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

Effective with the May 2024 OEWS news release, the OEWS program has implemented new metropolitan area definitions based on the 2020 decennial census and delineated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Bulletin 23-01. This news release does not include data for Colorado and its areas because of quality concerns with Colorado’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data. See the national OEWS news release for more information.


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 530 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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology is available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,808 establishments with a response rate of 65 percent.

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 Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Washtenaw County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

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 educational instruction and library occupations, Ann Arbor metropolitan area, May 2024
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Educational instruction and library occupations

29,510 2.33 33.08 68,810

Business teachers, postsecondary

550 4.79 (5) 143,270

Computer science teachers, postsecondary

160 3.15 (5) 130,710

Mathematical science teachers, postsecondary

310 4.43 (5) 143,530

Engineering teachers, postsecondary

710 12.59 (5) 158,810

Biological science teachers, postsecondary

300 3.99 (5) 129,210

Chemistry teachers, postsecondary

80 2.76 (5) 134,230

Physics teachers, postsecondary

80 4.13 (5) 134,520

Political science teachers, postsecondary

140 5.95 (5) 160,020

Psychology teachers, postsecondary

140 2.30 (5) 152,240

Sociology teachers, postsecondary

90 4.99 (5) 129,890

Health specialties teachers, postsecondary

730 2.26 (5) 150,120

Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary

220 2.12 (5) 110,530

Education teachers, postsecondary

170 2.01 (5) 108,470

Social work teachers, postsecondary

150 8.11 (5) 105,380

Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary

490 3.54 (5) 102,870

Communications teachers, postsecondary

100 2.32 (5) 104,870

English language and literature teachers, postsecondary

350 4.20 (5) 113,370

Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary

190 6.36 (5) 90,480

History teachers, postsecondary

80 2.87 (5) 144,630

Philosophy and religion teachers, postsecondary

60 2.04 (5) 125,070

Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary

260 1.67 43.65 90,790

Postsecondary teachers, all other

(6) (6) (5) 88,550

Preschool teachers, except special education

610 0.97 19.09 39,700

Kindergarten teachers, except special education

60 0.38 (5) 65,120

Elementary school teachers, except special education

1,730 0.88 (5) 69,210

Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education

500 0.58 (5) 64,770

Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education

1,020 0.68 (5) 74,790

Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school

160 0.48 (5) 79,100

Special education teachers, middle school

40 0.29 (5) 67,080

Special education teachers, secondary school

70 0.30 (5) 72,470

Special education teachers, all other

100 1.82 (5) 74,140

Adult basic education, adult secondary education, and english as a second language instructors

30 0.60 23.81 49,530

Self-enrichment teachers

430 0.98 21.93 45,610

Substitute teachers, short-term

120 0.18 18.94 39,390

Tutors

1,840 7.46 18.2 37,860

Teachers and instructors, all other

150 0.85 (5) 55,450

Curators

50 2.88 48.27 100,410

Museum technicians and conservators

70 4.05 18.01 37,470

Librarians and media collections specialists

300 1.62 39.19 81,500

Library technicians

230 2.17 18.45 38,370

Instructional coordinators

320 1.08 36.24 75,380

Teaching assistants, postsecondary

12,930 59.04 (5) 48,500

Teaching assistants, except postsecondary

1,710 0.88 (5) 33,990

Educational instruction and library workers, all other

200 1.24 27.07 56,310

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see s://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0011460.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations 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.
(5) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.
(6) Estimate not released.

 

Last Modified Date: Monday, May 19, 2025