Workers in the St. George, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.89 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($52.62), legal ($49.20), and computer and mathematical ($49.07). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($16.08), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($18.18), and personal care and service ($18.91). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment shares in the St. George area included office and administrative support (13.1 percent), food preparation and serving related (10.6 percent), and transportation and material moving (9.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.5 percent); legal (0.6 percent); and architecture and engineering (0.8 percent).

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. St. George had 7,850 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 8.7 percent of local area employment, compared to the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $26.18, compared to the national wage of $31.42.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (1,500), carpenters (1,110), and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (820). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers ($36.72) and construction and building inspectors ($35.01). At the lower end of the wage scale were construction and maintenance painters ($20.59) and electricians helpers ($20.85). (Detailed data for the construction and extraction occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0041100/2025.)

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 St. George area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, drywall and ceiling tile installers were employed at 7.79 times the national rate in St. George, and roofers, at 3.29 times the U.S. average. Electricians had a location quotient of 1.11 in St. George, 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 Utah Department of Workforce 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 St. George, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Washington 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 construction and extraction occupations, St. George metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	7,850	2.10	26.18	54,450
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	820	1.73	36.72	76,380
Brickmasons and blockmasons	180	5.79	25.38	52,800
Carpenters	1,110	2.85	24.98	51,970
Tile and stone setters	130	6.42	22.43	46,660
Cement masons and concrete finishers	520	4.33	25.23	52,480
Construction laborers	1,500	2.35	22.58	46,970
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	670	2.39	27.29	56,770
Drywall and ceiling tile installers	380	7.79	24.47	50,900
Electricians	490	1.11	28.14	58,540
Painters, construction and maintenance	330	2.51	20.59	42,830
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	370	1.38	27.42	57,030
Plasterers and stucco masons	180	15.68	29.17	60,680
Roofers	260	3.29	25.08	52,170
Sheet metal workers	60	0.83	26.09	54,260
Structural iron and steel workers	70	1.70	24.48	50,930
Helpers--electricians	40	1.16	20.85	43,370
Construction and building inspectors	80	0.95	35.01	72,810
Highway maintenance workers	40	0.45	24.87	51,720
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining	(5)	(5)	27.67	57,560
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the St. George, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0041100/2025. (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.