Workers in the Columbus, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.81 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 ($63.15) and architecture and engineering ($51.59). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.09) and personal care and service ($15.33). (See table A.)

Production occupations accounted for 20.8 percent of Columbus area employment, followed by office and administrative support occupations (9.6 percent) and transportation and material moving occupations (8.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.3 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.6 percent); and life, physical, and social science (0.7 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Columbus had 10,590 jobs in production, accounting for 20.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.26, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (2,500), machinists (920), and computer numerically controlled tool operators (830). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers with mean hourly wages of $32.75, computer numerically controlled tool programmers ($30.59), and tool and die makers ($30.52). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.15). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0018020.)

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 Columbus area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, computer numerically controlled tool operators were employed at 14.22 times the national rate in Columbus, and machinists, at 9.31 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.08 in Columbus, 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 Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

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 Columbus, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 700 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 Columbus, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bartholomew 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 production occupations, Columbus metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	10,590	3.67	23.26	48,370
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	630	2.78	32.75	68,120
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	2,500	5.21	20.02	41,640
Butchers and meat cutters	40	0.88	17.16	35,690
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	26.77	(5)	(5)
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	290	4.99	21.66	45,060
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	140	6.25	20.23	42,070
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	15.46	23.73	49,360
Machinists	920	9.31	24.65	51,270
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	400	7.83	19.44	40,420
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	250	5.91	20.78	43,210
Tool and die makers	170	9.46	30.52	63,490
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	260	1.86	23.54	48,970
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	7.51	21.35	44,400
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	160	33.31	23.83	49,560
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	18.21	37,870
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	70	1.08	14.15	29,430
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	60	2.10	20.21	42,030
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	1.03	21.46	44,630
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	2.68	22.02	45,810
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	620	3.20	23.15	48,160
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	160	1.24	19.36	40,260
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	280	5.30	19.78	41,140
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	830	14.22	28.08	58,400
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	50	5.21	30.59	63,620
Helpers--production workers	130	2.40	20.01	41,630
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Columbus, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0018020. (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. (5) Estimate not released.