Workers in the Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $32.34 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($63.44), legal ($57.35), and computer and mathematical ($52.66). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($17.24), personal care and service ($18.58), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($19.14), and healthcare support ($19.25). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment shares in the Columbus area included office and administrative support (11.0 percent), transportation and material moving (10.7 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.6 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.9 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 percent).

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Columbus had 121,850 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 11.0 percent of local area employment, compared to the 11.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.52, compared to the national wage of $24.79.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (18,550) and general office clerks (18,110). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants ($37.81), brokerage clerks ($34.12), and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers ($34.08). At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($15.88) and clerical library assistants ($16.63). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0018140/2025.)

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 some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, bill and account collectors were employed at 1.67 times the national rate in Columbus. Customer service representatives had a location quotient of 1.01 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 Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.

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 66.2 percent based on establishments and 67.2 percent based on weighted sampled employment. Sample sizes and response rates by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan area are available on the Additional OEWS data sets page.

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, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Delaware County, Fairfield County, Franklin County, Hocking County, Licking County, Madison County, Morrow County, Perry County, Pickaway County, and Union 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.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for office and administrative support occupations, Columbus metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	121,850	0.97	24.52	51,000
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	9,480	0.93	34.08	70,890
Switchboard operators, including answering service	250	1.01	17.61	36,630
Telephone operators	30	1.27	18.71	38,930
Bill and account collectors	1,890	1.67	24.06	50,050
Billing and posting clerks	3,750	1.31	23.77	49,440
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	9,000	0.92	25.57	53,180
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	1,200	1.11	28.99	60,300
Procurement clerks	220	0.55	26.13	54,350
Tellers	2,020	0.86	19.87	41,320
Financial clerks, all other	(5)	(5)	26.19	54,470
Brokerage clerks	310	1.22	34.12	70,980
Court, municipal, and license clerks	1,530	1.20	25.27	52,570
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	170	2.04	28.93	60,170
Customer service representatives	18,550	1.01	22.76	47,340
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	680	0.62	29.16	60,650
File clerks	400	0.77	21.14	43,970
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	1,430	0.77	15.88	33,030
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	1,420	1.35	21.84	45,430
Library assistants, clerical	700	1.16	16.63	34,580
Loan interviewers and clerks	1,210	1.04	26.03	54,140
Order clerks	650	1.21	23.03	47,890
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	530	0.82	25.09	52,190
Receptionists and information clerks	5,960	0.92	18.04	37,510
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	230	0.27	21.84	45,430
Information and record clerks, all other	310	0.33	25.90	53,880
Cargo and freight agents	640	0.92	27.73	57,680
Couriers and messengers	280	0.58	19.20	39,930
Public safety telecommunicators	690	0.94	29.75	61,890
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	1,220	0.85	26.88	55,920
Meter readers, utilities	390	2.80	26.10	54,300
Postal service clerks	360	0.68	28.66	59,600
Postal service mail carriers	1,920	0.82	30.32	63,060
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	900	1.20	28.80	59,900
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	3,390	1.22	29.32	60,980
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	6,300	1.09	22.97	47,790
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	750	1.97	23.15	48,150
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	3,250	0.99	37.81	78,650
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	690	0.62	29.47	61,290
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	5,490	0.80	21.87	45,490
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	9,570	0.79	23.37	48,610
Data entry keyers	810	0.90	21.19	44,070
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	1,770	1.16	25.96	53,990
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	500	1.29	20.24	42,100
Office clerks, general	18,110	1.03	21.81	45,360
Office machine operators, except computer	200	1.11	(5)	(5)
Office and administrative support workers, all other	830	0.61	16.78	34,910
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0018140/2025. (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.