Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

24-1278-CHI
Thursday, July 25, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Peoria — May 2023

Workers in the Peoria, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.93 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 ($59.15), architecture and engineering ($49.89), and legal ($47.74). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.73), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.20), and personal care and service ($17.21). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Peoria area included office and administrative support (10.7 percent), production (9.6 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.3 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.9 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Peoria metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Peoria United States Peoria

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 28.93

Management

6.9 7.5 66.23 59.15

Business and financial operations

6.6 4.6 43.55 38.59

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.0 54.39 45.32

Architecture and engineering

1.7 2.6 47.64 49.89

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.6 42.24 39.12

Community and social service

1.6 1.9 28.36 24.73

Legal

0.8 0.5 64.34 47.74

Educational instruction and library

5.8 6.1 31.92 28.24

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 0.9 36.31 27.61

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 8.1 49.07 41.93

Healthcare support

4.7 4.4 18.37 18.47

Protective service

2.3 1.6 27.74 28.94

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 8.3 16.58 15.73

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 4.1 18.43 17.20

Personal care and service

2.0 1.9 18.48 17.21

Sales and related

8.8 8.1 25.62 21.92

Office and administrative support

12.2 10.7 23.05 21.68

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 19.22 20.81

Construction and extraction

4.1 4.0 29.57 34.74

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.1 28.13 27.84

Production

5.8 9.6 22.90 23.36

Transportation and material moving

9.1 8.2 22.45 20.53

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Peoria had 15,910 jobs in production, accounting for 9.6 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.36, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (2,980), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,170), and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,150). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were computer numerically controlled tool programmers and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $32.64 and $31.91, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($15.56) and bakers ($15.90). (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_37900.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 Peoria area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 27.5 times the national rate in Peoria, and grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 7.7 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 1.0 in Peoria, 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 Illinois Department of Employment Security.


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 Peoria, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,728 establishments with a response rate of 59 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 Peoria, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Marshall County, Peoria County, Stark County, Tazewell County, and Woodford 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, Peoria metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

15,910 1.7 23.36 48,580

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,090 1.5 31.91 66,370

Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers

130 0.4 17.05 35,450

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

180 2.9 21.89 45,530

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

2,980 1.8 20.58 42,810

Bakers

280 1.2 15.90 33,070

Butchers and meat cutters

150 1.0 16.59 34,500

Food batchmakers

240 1.3 18.76 39,020

Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

30 1.2 21.93 45,620

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

400 2.1 19.70 40,970

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

630 7.7 21.82 45,390

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

580 27.5 25.60 53,250

Machinists

660 2.1 23.95 49,820

Foundry mold and coremakers

30 2.7 (5) (5)

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

360 2.1 23.74 49,380

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

920 6.6 22.68 47,170

Tool and die makers

150 2.4 29.32 60,990

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

1,150 2.5 24.44 50,830

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

(5) (5) 20.80 43,260

Printing press operators

150 0.9 22.27 46,310

Print binding and finishing workers

90 2.2 17.55 36,510

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

190 0.9 15.56 32,370

Sewing machine operators

60 0.5 16.28 33,870

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

50 0.5 23.61 49,110

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

50 0.7 20.06 41,720

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

160 1.3 29.79 61,970

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

190 1.7 21.75 45,240

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,170 1.8 24.49 50,930

Dental laboratory technicians

90 2.5 24.90 51,790

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

410 1.0 19.97 41,540

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

450 2.6 21.36 44,430

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

460 2.3 23.28 48,430

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

60 2.0 32.64 67,880

Helpers--production workers

150 0.8 19.56 40,680

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Peoria, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_37900.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.
(5) Estimate not released.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, July 25, 2024