Workers in the Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $41.93 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, 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 ($81.87), legal ($80.78), and computer and mathematical ($75.33). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($20.64), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($21.47), and personal care and service ($22.00). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Boulder area included business and financial operations (10.2 percent), sales and related (10.1 percent), and office and administrative support (10.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.9 percent), protective service (1.1 percent), and community and social service (1.7 percent).

One occupational group—computer and mathematical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Boulder had 17,320 jobs in computer and mathematical, accounting for 8.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 3.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $75.33, compared to the national wage of $54.39.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the computer and mathematical group included software developers (7,840), computer user support specialists (1,800), and computer network architects (1,140). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were software developers and web and digital interface designers, with mean hourly wages of $87.81 and $83.20, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were computer user support specialists ($36.17) and computer network support specialists ($44.00). (Detailed data for the computer and mathematical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14500.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 Boulder area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the computer and mathematical group. For instance, computer network architects were employed at 5.1 times the national rate in Boulder, and software developers, at 3.7 times the U.S. average. Computer systems analysts had a location quotient of 1.3 in Boulder, 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 Colorado Department of Labor & Employment.

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 Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,222 establishments with a response rate of 83 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 Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Boulder 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 computer and mathematical occupations, Boulder metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Computer and mathematical occupations	17,320	2.6	75.33	156,680
Computer systems analysts	820	1.3	67.66	140,740
Information security analysts	490	2.2	68.59	142,670
Computer and information research scientists	100	2.2	68.28	142,020
Computer network support specialists	370	1.8	44.00	91,530
Computer user support specialists	1,800	2.0	36.17	75,230
Computer network architects	1,140	5.1	71.34	148,380
Database administrators	190	1.9	59.10	122,930
Database architects	250	3.3	74.18	154,290
Network and computer systems administrators	950	2.3	53.52	111,330
Computer programmers	120	0.8	71.62	148,970
Software developers	7,840	3.7	87.81	182,650
Software quality assurance analysts and testers	730	2.8	57.97	120,580
Web developers	180	1.7	44.36	92,260
Web and digital interface designers	350	2.5	83.20	173,050
Computer occupations, all other	1,200	2.1	111.98	232,920
Operations research analysts	50	0.3	48.27	100,390
Statisticians	100	2.7	53.91	112,130
Data scientists	610	2.5	73.91	153,740
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Boulder, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14500.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.