Workers in the Farmington, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.19 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that higher paying major occupational groups included healthcare practitioners and technical ($55.99), management ($54.24), and architecture and engineering ($42.49). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.21), healthcare support ($15.53), and personal care and service ($16.39). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Farmington area included office and administrative support (12.7 percent), construction and extraction (10.9 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.8 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.5 percent); and life, physical, and social science (0.7 percent).

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Farmington had 5,040 jobs in construction and extraction, accounting for 10.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $27.08, compared to the national wage of $30.73.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (770), first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (640), and electricians (360). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers ($40.08) and surface mining excavating and loading machine and dragline operators ($35.59). At the lower end of the wage scale were construction laborers ($19.39) and roofers ($19.49). (Detailed data for the construction and extraction occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0022140.)

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 Farmington area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers were employed at 2.67 times the national rate in Farmington, and electricians at 1.64 times the U.S. average.

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 New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

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 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 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Farmington, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area included 753 establishments with a response rate of 79 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 Farmington, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area includes San Juan 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 construction and extraction occupations, Farmington metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Construction and extraction occupations	5,040	2.66	27.08	56,330
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	640	2.67	40.08	83,370
Carpenters	220	1.07	26.05	54,180
Floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles	40	5.53	21.62	44,980
Cement masons and concrete finishers	100	1.58	23.50	48,870
Construction laborers	770	2.45	19.39	40,330
Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators	90	6.76	22.96	47,750
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	470	3.34	27.73	57,680
Electricians	360	1.64	30.95	64,380
Painters, construction and maintenance	80	1.18	22.50	46,800
Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	250	1.87	26.02	54,120
Roofers	40	0.86	19.49	40,540
Helpers--electricians	30	1.58	18.99	39,500
Construction and building inspectors	60	1.37	30.19	62,800
Hazardous materials removal workers	90	5.63	22.45	46,690
Derrick operators, oil and gas	190	59.15	25.32	52,660
Rotary drill operators, oil and gas	60	16.20	34.20	71,140
Service unit operators, oil and gas	550	41.90	29.72	61,810
Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining	60	5.45	35.59	74,020
Roustabouts, oil and gas	370	27.01	25.32	52,670
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Farmington, NM Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0022140. (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.