Workers in the Springfield, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $31.05 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 ($55.98), healthcare practitioners and technical ($52.73), and legal ($49.75). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.96), personal care and service ($17.37), and healthcare support ($18.91). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Springfield area included office and administrative support (13.8 percent), healthcare practitioners and technical (9.9 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.8 percent); legal (1.1 percent); and architecture and engineering (1.3 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Springfield had 14,330 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 13.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.24, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included office clerks, general (2,760), customer service representatives (1,500), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (1,400). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, with mean hourly wages of $34.38 and $30.33, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were library assistants, clerical ($14.16) and mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service ($15.37). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_44100.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 Springfield area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants were employed at 2.9 times the national rate in Springfield, and medical secretaries and administrative assistants, at 2.1 times the U.S. average. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Springfield, 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 Springfield, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,173 establishments with a response rate of 53 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 Springfield, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Menard County and Sangamon 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 office and administrative support occupations, Springfield metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	14,330	1.1	22.24	46,260
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	730	0.7	30.33	63,080
Switchboard operators, including answering service	50	1.8	17.68	36,780
Bill and account collectors	60	0.5	20.33	42,290
Billing and posting clerks	340	1.2	21.60	44,920
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	1,040	1.0	24.01	49,940
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	110	1.0	26.28	54,660
Procurement clerks	40	1.0	23.24	48,330
Tellers	430	1.8	17.42	36,230
Court, municipal, and license clerks	90	0.9	22.96	47,770
Customer service representatives	1,500	0.8	19.71	40,990
File clerks	110	2.0	18.84	39,180
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	180	1.0	15.44	32,120
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	60	0.5	20.63	42,910
Library assistants, clerical	80	1.4	14.16	29,460
Loan interviewers and clerks	130	1.0	22.23	46,250
New accounts clerks	60	2.0	19.14	39,800
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	90	1.3	21.51	44,730
Receptionists and information clerks	750	1.1	16.79	34,910
Couriers and messengers	70	1.4	18.39	38,250
Public safety telecommunicators	90	1.3	29.42	61,180
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	90	0.7	22.52	46,830
Postal service clerks	50	0.9	27.86	57,940
Postal service mail carriers	300	1.3	28.52	59,330
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	170	2.1	27.04	56,230
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	110	0.4	29.13	60,600
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	320	0.6	20.10	41,810
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	40	1.0	19.11	39,760
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	950	2.9	34.38	71,500
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	120	1.1	26.03	54,150
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	1,080	2.1	19.81	41,200
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	1,400	1.2	21.91	45,560
Data entry keyers	220	2.1	19.14	39,810
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	120	0.7	22.81	47,450
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	100	2.2	15.37	31,980
Office clerks, general	2,760	1.6	19.66	40,880
Office machine operators, except computer	70	3.9	22.95	47,730
Office and administrative support workers, all other	120	1.0	22.23	46,230
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Springfield, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_44100.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.