Workers in the Waco, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.80 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 ($54.91), legal ($45.40), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($44.96). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.32), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.74), and personal care and service ($16.07). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Waco area included office and administrative support (13.1 percent), food preparation and serving related (9.8 percent), and transportation and material moving (8.7 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.7 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Waco had 9,400 jobs in production, accounting for 7.2 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.30, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (830), welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (760), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (640). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($32.00) and dental laboratory technicians ($26.63). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($15.16) and bakers ($15.80). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0047380.)

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 Waco area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic milling and planning machine setters, operators and tenders were employed at 3.51 times the national rate in Waco, and food batchmakers, at 2.80 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 1.09 in Waco, 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 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 Waco, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,470 establishments with a response rate of 62 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 Waco, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bosque County, Falls County, and McLennan 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 production occupations, Waco metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	9,400	1.28	21.30	44,300
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	830	1.43	32.00	66,550
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	150	0.69	20.60	42,840
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	1,550	1.27	18.99	39,510
Bakers	130	0.69	15.80	32,870
Butchers and meat cutters	90	0.74	19.16	39,850
Food batchmakers	400	2.80	18.03	37,500
Food processing workers, all other	100	1.99	15.00	31,190
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	150	1.02	19.54	40,640
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	1.00	19.63	40,830
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	3.51	21.74	45,210
Machinists	220	0.86	24.69	51,350
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	21.81	45,360
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	760	2.11	22.97	47,770
Printing press operators	110	0.92	20.67	42,990
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	230	1.43	15.16	31,530
Sewing machine operators	100	1.10	12.83	26,680
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	110	1.66	19.77	41,130
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	120	1.14	25.22	52,460
Plant and system operators, all other	80	5.85	27.57	57,350
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	170	2.01	20.24	42,100
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	640	1.28	21.88	45,500
Dental laboratory technicians	30	1.22	26.63	55,380
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	350	1.09	18.32	38,100
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	230	1.70	24.53	51,010
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	140	0.92	21.02	43,730
Helpers--production workers	630	4.48	16.88	35,120
Production workers, all other	160	0.68	20.91	43,490
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Waco, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0047380. (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.