Workers in the Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $35.75 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Mark J. Maggi noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($65.06), legal ($58.42), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($58.21). Lower paying occupations included building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($21.72), food preparation and serving related ($22.10), and personal care and service ($22.40). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment shares in the Burlington area included office and administrative support (9.6 percent) and management (8.6 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent); life, physical, and social science (1.4 percent); and protective service (1.6 percent).

One occupational group—management—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Burlington had 10,310 jobs in management, accounting for 8.6 percent of local area employment, compared to the 7.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $65.06, compared to the national wage of $69.84.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the management group included general and operations managers (2,930) and financial managers (690). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were chief executives ($148.76), computer and information systems managers ($83.49), and architectural and engineering managers ($83.49). At the lower end of the wage scale were preschool and daycare education and childcare administrators ($32.27) and social and community service managers ($39.42). (Detailed data for the management occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0015540/2025.)

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 Burlington area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the management group. For instance, social and community service managers were employed at 2.48 times the national rate in Burlington, and postsecondary education administrators, at 1.99 times the U.S. average. Kindergarten through secondary education administrators had a location quotient of 1.05 in Burlington, 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 Vermont Department of Labor.

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 Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Chittenden County, Franklin County, and Grand Isle 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 management occupations, Burlington metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Management occupations	10,310	1.20	65.06	135,320
Chief executives	100	0.66	148.76	309,430
General and operations managers	2,930	1.08	57.92	120,470
Sales managers	450	0.92	71.58	148,880
Public relations managers	120	2.09	75.22	156,470
Fundraising managers	50	1.52	68.80	143,110
Administrative services managers	190	0.91	53.40	111,070
Facilities managers	200	1.66	45.99	95,670
Computer and information systems managers	400	0.77	83.49	173,650
Financial managers	690	1.06	74.40	154,750
Industrial production managers	200	1.05	61.33	127,560
Purchasing managers	50	0.70	70.64	146,920
Transportation, storage, and distribution managers	200	1.18	55.99	116,470
Human resources managers	160	0.91	75.40	156,830
Training and development managers	(5)	(5)	66.88	139,110
Construction managers	520	1.78	53.10	110,450
Education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare	80	1.42	32.27	67,120
Education administrators, kindergarten through secondary	270	1.05	(6)	117,310
Education administrators, postsecondary	280	1.99	70.21	146,050
Education administrators, all other	140	3.28	43.73	90,960
Architectural and engineering managers	180	1.06	83.49	173,660
Food service managers	160	0.89	39.90	82,990
Entertainment and recreation managers, except gambling	60	1.96	45.32	94,260
Lodging managers	40	1.34	45.42	94,480
Medical and health services managers	310	0.68	78.69	163,680
Natural sciences managers	110	1.25	66.84	139,030
Property, real estate, and community association managers	290	1.20	40.02	83,240
Social and community service managers	400	2.48	39.42	81,990
Managers, all other	650	1.35	66.38	138,070
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0015540/2025. (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. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.