Workers in the Columbus, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.04 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($61.54), architecture and engineering ($49.88), and legal ($44.95). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.54), personal care and service ($15.65), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($16.27). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Columbus area included production (20.9 percent), office and administrative support (9.4 percent), and transportation and material moving (8.7 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.2 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.5 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.6 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Columbus had 10,580 jobs in production, accounting for 20.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.83, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (2,220), computer numerically controlled tool operators (1,030), and machinists (1,010). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and computer numerically controlled tool programmers, with mean hourly wages of $32.37 and $30.71, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.05) and molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ($18.56). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_18020.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 Columbus area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in nearly all of the occupations within the production group. For instance, computer numerically controlled tool operators were employed at 16.5 times the national rate in Columbus, and machinists, at 10.4 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.1 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 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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are 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 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Columbus, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 682 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 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	10,580	3.6	22.83	47,490
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	620	2.8	32.37	67,330
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	2,220	4.5	19.82	41,230
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	22.6	21.88	45,510
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	370	6.2	19.94	41,460
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	150	6.0	20.42	42,480
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	11.6	22.27	46,310
Machinists	1,010	10.4	23.49	48,860
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	430	8.0	18.56	38,610
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	310	7.4	20.61	42,860
Tool and die makers	190	9.7	27.58	57,360
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	320	2.3	23.33	48,520
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	100	8.9	23.51	48,910
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	160	31.5	21.53	44,790
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	5.1	19.40	40,350
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	60	1.1	14.05	29,230
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	50	1.7	20.26	42,140
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	620	3.2	22.45	46,690
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	80	0.7	19.74	41,060
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	330	6.4	19.20	39,940
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	1,030	16.5	27.19	56,550
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	40	4.3	30.71	63,880
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Columbus, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_18020.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.