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News Release Information

25-921-DAL
Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (972) 850-4800

Occupational Employment and Wages in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands — May 2024

Workers in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $31.87 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 management ($67.03), legal ($63.17), and architecture and engineering ($52.59). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.91), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($16.33), and healthcare support ($16.39). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Houston area included office and administrative support (11.7 percent), transportation and material moving (9.5 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.4 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.9 percent); and community and social service (1.0 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Houston metropolitan area, May 2024
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Houston United States Houston

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 32.66 31.87

Management

7.1 8.8 68.15 67.03

Business and financial operations

6.7 5.9 45.04 43.05

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.6 56.16 50.89

Architecture and engineering

1.7 2.4 49.99 52.59

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 1.1 43.12 41.75

Community and social service

1.7 1.0 30.31 29.42

Legal

0.8 0.8 66.19 63.17

Educational instruction and library

5.8 6.0 31.69 31.14

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 0.9 37.04 29.18

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.2 5.9 50.59 50.01

Healthcare support

4.8 3.7 19.06 16.39

Protective service

2.4 2.3 29.33 26.50

Food preparation and serving related

8.8 9.4 17.32 14.91

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.7 19.01 16.33

Personal care and service

2.0 1.6 18.95 16.82

Sales and related

8.7 8.4 26.00 24.38

Office and administrative support

11.8 11.7 24.12 23.12

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 20.06 18.71

Construction and extraction

4.1 5.4 30.73 26.62

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.6 29.63 29.63

Production

5.7 5.3 24.08 25.03

Transportation and material moving

8.9 9.5 23.44 24.37

One occupational group—construction and extraction—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Houston had 175,890 jobs in construction and extraction occupations, accounting for 5.4 percent of local area employment, compared to the 4.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $26.62, compared to the national wage of $30.73.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the construction and extraction group included construction laborers (33,070), first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers (24,650), and electricians (17,860). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were oil and gas rotary drill operators ($41.35) and first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers ($37.69). At the lower end of the wage scale were construction laborers ($20.13) and tile and stone setters ($20.60). (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/0026420.)

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 Houston area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the construction and extraction group. For instance, oil and gas derrick operators were employed at 6.69 times the national rate in Houston, and oil and gas service unit operators at 6.18 times the U.S. average. Sheet metal workers had a location quotient of 1.14 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.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

Effective with the May 2024 OEWS news release, the OEWS program has implemented new metropolitan area definitions based on the 2020 decennial census and delineated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Bulletin 23-01. This news release does not include data for Colorado and its areas because of quality concerns with Colorado’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data. See the national OEWS news release for more information.


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 Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area included 9,816 establishments with a response rate of 43 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-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Austin County, Brazoria County, Chambers County, Fort Bend County, Galveston County, Harris County, Liberty County, Montgomery County, San Jacinto 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 construction and extraction occupations, Houston metropolitan area, May 2024
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Construction and extraction occupations

175,890 1.31 26.62 55,380

First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers

24,650 1.45 37.69 78,390

Boilermakers

1,120 5.23 33.26 69,180

Brickmasons and blockmasons

990 0.88 24.50 50,970

Stonemasons

250 1.34 22.19 46,150

Carpenters

9,520 0.65 24.93 51,840

Floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles

410 0.79 21.24 44,180

Tile and stone setters

580 0.71 20.60 42,850

Cement masons and concrete finishers

6,180 1.43 22.95 47,740

Construction laborers

33,070 1.48 20.13 41,860

Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators

1,180 1.23 22.42 46,630

Pile driver operators

150 2.28 31.96 66,470

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators

13,150 1.33 25.98 54,050

Drywall and ceiling tile installers

1,580 0.90 25.24 52,510

Electricians

17,860 1.14 28.39 59,060

Glaziers

1,560 1.30 22.53 46,860

Insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall

2,130 2.62 22.70 47,220

Insulation workers, mechanical

1,370 2.53 25.11 52,220

Painters, construction and maintenance

5,550 1.18 21.84 45,420

Pipelayers

1,630 2.31 21.70 45,140

Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters

11,150 1.16 29.30 60,950

Reinforcing iron and rebar workers

1,330 4.47 24.26 50,460

Roofers

1,440 0.50 22.43 46,660

Sheet metal workers

2,810 1.14 27.63 57,480

Structural iron and steel workers

3,230 2.37 24.88 51,740

Solar photovoltaic installers

1,190 2.00 23.09 48,020

Helpers--carpenters

850 1.63 20.70 43,060

Helpers--electricians

1,920 1.42 21.59 44,900

Helpers--painters, paperhangers, plasterers, and stucco masons

240 1.57 16.91 35,160

Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters

1,650 1.79 20.28 42,190

Helpers--roofers

140 1.30 16.68 34,690

Helpers, construction trades, all other

1,190 2.21 19.53 40,620

Construction and building inspectors

4,490 1.56 34.16 71,040

Hazardous materials removal workers

870 0.81 21.34 44,380

Highway maintenance workers

960 0.30 21.76 45,270

Rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators

250 0.73 24.17 50,280

Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners

460 0.76 24.10 50,130

Miscellaneous construction and related workers

580 0.82 24.83 51,650

Derrick operators, oil and gas

1,560 6.69 32.77 68,160

Rotary drill operators, oil and gas

1,660 6.02 41.35 86,010

Service unit operators, oil and gas

5,740 6.18 27.49 57,190

Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining

860 1.20 23.43 48,720

Earth drillers, except oil and gas

290 0.79 29.14 60,610

Explosives workers, ordnance handling experts, and blasters

(5) (5) 26.52 55,160

Roustabouts, oil and gas

5,690 5.97 24.41 50,770

(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0026420.
(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.

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2025