Workers in the Tulsa, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.40 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($60.28), legal ($47.30), and architecture and engineering ($46.65). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.43), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.01), and personal care and service ($17.07). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment shares in the Tulsa area included office and administrative support (12.4 percent), food preparation and serving related (9.4 percent), and sales and related (9.2 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); legal (0.7 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.9 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Tulsa had 36,210 jobs in production, accounting for 7.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.89, compared to the national wage of $24.81.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (4,520), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (3,280), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,880). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers ($49.12) and power plant operators ($45.82). At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($14.07) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.83). (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/0046140/2025.)

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 Tulsa area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers were employed at 5.79 times the national rate in Tulsa, and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, at 3.68 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.13 in Tulsa, 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 Oklahoma Employment Security 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 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 Tulsa, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Creek County, Okmulgee County, Osage County, Pawnee County, Rogers County, Tulsa County, and Wagoner 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, Tulsa metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	36,210	1.43	24.89	51,760
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	3,280	1.65	36.60	76,120
Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers	120	1.17	23.46	48,790
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	1,240	1.70	21.64	45,020
Engine and other machine assemblers	60	0.64	26.05	54,190
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	430	2.81	26.24	54,580
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	5,800	1.40	21.38	44,470
Bakers	590	0.84	15.73	32,730
Butchers and meat cutters	440	1.08	17.38	36,150
Food batchmakers	330	0.65	16.64	34,600
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	190	2.02	18.82	39,140
Food processing workers, all other	50	0.24	18.00	37,430
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	0.44	21.50	44,720
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	150	1.96	23.90	49,710
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	960	1.90	21.91	45,560
Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	13.31	25.28	52,590
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	370	1.87	20.01	41,620
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	1.84	22.54	46,870
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	1.98	22.65	47,100
Machinists	2,000	2.36	26.09	54,280
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	40	0.72	23.27	48,390
Foundry mold and coremakers	40	1.12	18.80	39,110
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	540	1.21	21.03	43,740
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	820	2.22	22.36	46,500
Tool and die makers	110	0.65	31.19	64,870
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	4,520	3.68	26.70	55,540
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	250	2.64	22.20	46,170
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	0.58	21.87	45,490
Printing press operators	390	0.91	19.79	41,150
Print binding and finishing workers	40	0.45	17.68	36,770
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	660	1.13	14.83	30,850
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	90	1.23	14.07	29,260
Sewing machine operators	120	0.38	16.94	35,230
Upholsterers	(5)	(5)	20.08	41,770
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	310	1.38	18.97	39,460
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	40	0.36	18.62	38,730
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	60	0.35	17.68	36,780
Power plant operators	100	1.13	45.82	95,300
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	70	0.84	33.54	69,770
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	620	1.64	23.60	49,100
Gas plant operators	270	5.11	36.31	75,530
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	570	5.79	49.12	102,170
Plant and system operators, all other	40	0.86	33.94	70,600
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	200	0.48	29.30	60,950
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	0.33	23.60	49,090
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.21	18.88	39,260
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	90	2.74	18.86	39,220
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	190	0.67	24.74	51,470
Cutters and trimmers, hand	40	2.13	16.41	34,140
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	170	1.25	19.79	41,160
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	270	1.57	21.15	43,980
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	110	2.69	22.36	46,510
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	2,880	1.63	27.52	57,250
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	90	1.39	20.50	42,650
Dental laboratory technicians	100	0.98	24.56	51,080
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	820	0.73	19.58	40,720
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	70	2.86	18.86	39,240
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	1,020	2.17	23.54	48,970
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	700	1.39	25.07	52,140
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	130	1.60	36.31	75,520
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	140	3.13	23.79	49,480
Etchers and engravers	40	1.87	19.14	39,810
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	70	0.70	22.14	46,040
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	530	1.87	(5)	(5)
Helpers--production workers	830	1.70	17.47	36,330
Production workers, all other	470	0.64	22.53	46,860
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Tulsa, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0046140/2025. (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) Estimate not released.