Workers in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $30.54 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 legal ($65.39), management ($64.00), and architecture and engineering ($50.48). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.14), healthcare support ($15.51), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.74). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Houston area included office and administrative support (12.2 percent), transportation and material moving (9.6 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.7 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.9 percent); and community and social service (1.0 percent).

One occupational group—management—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Houston had 268,670 jobs in management, accounting for 8.5 percent of local area employment, compared to the 6.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $64.00, compared to the national wage of $66.23.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the management group included general and operations managers (104,860), sales managers (18,460), and financial managers (15,470). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were chief executives and financial managers, with mean hourly wages of $156.28 and $89.32, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare ($24.71) and funeral home managers ($30.98). (Detailed data for the management occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26420.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 Houston area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the management group. For instance, construction managers were employed at 2.1 times the national rate in Houston, and transportation, storage, and distribution managers, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. Human resources managers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Houston, 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 Texas Workforce Commission.

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 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area included 9,698 establishments with a response rate of 42 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 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Austin County, Brazoria County, Chambers County, Fort Bend County, Galveston County, Harris County, Liberty County, Montgomery County, and Waller 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 management occupations, Houston metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Management occupations	268,670	1.2	64.00	133,110
Chief executives	1,520	0.3	156.28	325,060
General and operations managers	104,860	1.4	61.96	128,870
Legislators	170	0.3	(6)	68,100
Advertising and promotions managers	350	0.8	56.34	117,180
Marketing managers	7,890	1.0	74.15	154,220
Sales managers	18,460	1.5	71.18	148,060
Public relations managers	1,710	1.1	64.77	134,710
Fundraising managers	570	0.9	54.54	113,430
Administrative services managers	(5)	(5)	60.24	125,300
Facilities managers	2,390	0.9	54.72	113,820
Computer and information systems managers	11,760	1.0	82.77	172,160
Financial managers	15,470	0.9	89.32	185,790
Industrial production managers	6,080	1.3	67.05	139,460
Purchasing managers	2,030	1.3	67.51	140,410
Transportation, storage, and distribution managers	6,980	1.7	53.00	110,230
Compensation and benefits managers	360	0.9	66.04	137,360
Human resources managers	4,220	1.0	72.24	150,260
Training and development managers	1,380	1.6	63.65	132,400
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers	60	0.5	38.57	80,230
Construction managers	14,660	2.1	53.35	110,970
Education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare	2,100	1.6	24.71	51,390
Education administrators, kindergarten through secondary	7,850	1.2	(6)	99,060
Education administrators, postsecondary	2,240	0.6	57.56	119,720
Education administrators, all other	870	0.8	39.17	81,460
Architectural and engineering managers	5,760	1.3	88.70	184,500
Food service managers	(5)	(5)	34.99	72,780
Entertainment and recreation managers, except gambling	510	0.8	36.03	74,940
Lodging managers	500	0.6	35.56	73,960
Medical and health services managers	11,620	1.1	60.13	125,070
Natural sciences managers	2,840	1.4	56.02	116,520
Postmasters and mail superintendents	80	0.3	46.53	96,780
Property, real estate, and community association managers	8,570	1.4	40.84	84,940
Social and community service managers	2,090	0.6	38.68	80,450
Emergency management directors	260	1.0	52.53	109,250
Funeral home managers	470	1.6	30.98	64,430
Managers, all other	11,220	0.9	73.11	152,070
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26420.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. (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.