Workers in the Gadsden, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.79 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 ($47.57), healthcare practitioners and technical ($41.82), architecture and engineering ($38.72), and computer and mathematical ($38.25). Lower paying occupational groups included personal care and service ($12.70) and food preparation and serving related ($12.87). (See table A.)

Food preparation and serving related occupations accounted for 11.5 percent of Gadsden area employment, followed by production occupations (10.7 percent) and transportation and material moving occupations (10.6 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.3 percent); legal (0.5 percent); and computer and mathematical (0.6 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Gadsden had 3,570 jobs in production, accounting for 10.7 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.09, compared to the national wage of $24.81.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (620) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (310). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($31.24) and water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators ($28.04). At the lower end of the wage scale was laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.30). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0023460/2025.)

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 Gadsden area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, helpers of production workers were employed at 7.61 times the national rate in Gadsden, and metal and plastic cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 6.70 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 0.87 in Gadsden, 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 Gadsden, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Etowah 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 production occupations, Gadsden metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	3,570	1.95	19.09	39,700
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	310	2.16	31.24	64,970
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	30	3.02	20.28	42,190
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	620	2.06	16.46	34,230
Butchers and meat cutters	50	1.85	16.97	35,290
Food processing workers, all other	40	2.99	17.29	35,950
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	240	6.70	18.59	38,670
Machinists	80	1.36	23.79	49,480
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	3.63	17.63	36,670
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	190	2.18	21.20	44,100
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	50	1.19	13.30	27,660
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	70	2.44	28.04	58,320
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	230	1.77	16.96	35,280
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	70	0.87	17.47	36,330
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	140	4.14	17.94	37,320
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	60	1.77	20.63	42,920
Helpers--production workers	270	7.61	16.08	33,450
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Gadsden, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0023460/2025. (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.