Workers in the Auburn-Opelika, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.08 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($56.33), computer and mathematical ($44.40), legal ($43.59), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($43.26). Lower paying occupational groups included food preparation and serving related ($13.89) and personal care and service ($15.02). (See table A.)

Food preparation and serving related occupations accounted for 12.2 percent of Auburn area employment, followed by educational instruction and library occupations (11.5 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent) and life, physical, and social science (0.8 percent).

One occupational group—educational instruction and library—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Auburn had 8,350 jobs in educational instruction and library, accounting for 11.5 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average annual wage for this occupational group locally was $55,370, compared to the national wage of $67,540.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the educational instruction and library group included secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education (840) and teaching assistants, except postsecondary (710). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were postsecondary business teachers ($132,470) and postsecondary computer science teachers ($119,910). At the lower end of the wage scale were short-term substitute teachers ($21,520) and postsecondary teaching assistants ($24,650). (Detailed data for the educational instruction and library occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0012220/2025.)

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 Auburn area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the educational instruction and library group. For instance, postsecondary agricultural sciences teachers were employed at 51.15 times the national rate in Auburn, and postsecondary engineering teachers, at 13.74 times the U.S. average. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary, had a location quotient of 1.07 in Auburn, 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 Alabama 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 Auburn-Opelika, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lee County and Macon 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 educational instruction and library occupations, Auburn metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Educational instruction and library occupations	8,350	1.96	26.62	55,370
Business teachers, postsecondary	150	3.95	(5)	132,470
Computer science teachers, postsecondary	40	2.28	(5)	119,910
Mathematical science teachers, postsecondary	80	3.40	(5)	84,240
Engineering teachers, postsecondary	260	13.74	(5)	106,400
Agricultural sciences teachers, postsecondary	210	51.15	(5)	82,510
Biological science teachers, postsecondary	230	9.75	(5)	87,020
Chemistry teachers, postsecondary	50	5.04	(5)	83,710
Physics teachers, postsecondary	50	8.54	(5)	82,920
Political science teachers, postsecondary	30	4.36	(5)	92,710
Psychology teachers, postsecondary	80	4.11	(5)	100,980
Nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary	220	6.13	(5)	57,270
Education teachers, postsecondary	70	2.60	(5)	81,540
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary	70	1.68	(5)	76,810
English language and literature teachers, postsecondary	100	3.61	(5)	66,780
History teachers, postsecondary	40	4.23	(5)	80,390
Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary	60	1.08	32.75	68,130
Preschool teachers, except special education	500	2.25	13.97	29,060
Elementary school teachers, except special education	550	0.85	(5)	57,410
Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education	(6)	(6)	(5)	58,840
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	840	1.69	(5)	66,140
Self-enrichment teachers	80	0.49	20.75	43,170
Substitute teachers, short-term	130	0.55	10.35	21,520
Tutors	30	0.42	13.38	27,830
Teachers and instructors, all other	30	0.62	(5)	68,280
Librarians and media collections specialists	110	1.80	31.36	65,220
Library technicians	30	1.01	20.23	42,080
Instructional coordinators	230	2.13	31.84	66,230
Teaching assistants, postsecondary	(6)	(6)	(5)	24,650
Teaching assistants, except postsecondary	710	1.07	(5)	26,440
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Auburn-Opelika, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0012220/2025. (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) 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. (6) Estimate not released.