Workers in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $32.47 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($63.16), legal ($59.87), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($52.82). Lower paying occupations included building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($19.00), food preparation and serving related ($19.76), and healthcare support ($19.95). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Phoenix area included office and administrative support (13.0 percent), sales and related (9.1 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); legal (0.8 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent).

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Phoenix had 303,940 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 13.0 percent of local area employment, compared to the 11.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.34, compared to the national wage of $24.12.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (69,410), general office clerks (34,690), and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers (23,640). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants ($36.49) and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers ($33.09). At the lower end of the wage scale were office machine operators, except computer ($16.63) and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($17.64). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0038060.)

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 Phoenix area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, bill and account collectors were employed at 2.16 times the national rate in Phoenix, and insurance claims and policy processing clerks, at 1.81 times the U.S. average. Medical secretaries and administrative assistants had a location quotient of 0.97 in Phoenix, 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 Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity.

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 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area included 8,180 establishments with a response rate of 59 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 Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Maricopa County and Pinal 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 office and administrative support occupations, Phoenix metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	303,940	1.1	24.34	50,630
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	23,640	1.04	33.09	68,830
Switchboard operators, including answering service	380	0.70	19.42	40,390
Bill and account collectors	5,410	2.16	23.32	48,510
Billing and posting clerks	7,770	1.22	23.47	48,810
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	17,650	0.80	25.59	53,220
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	2,770	1.16	26.42	54,950
Procurement clerks	810	0.89	24.31	50,560
Tellers	2,850	0.55	21.42	44,550
Financial clerks, all other	570	1.02	30.92	64,310
Brokerage clerks	990	1.62	30.52	63,480
Correspondence clerks	(5)	(5)	22.00	45,760
Court, municipal, and license clerks	2,200	0.85	24.43	50,820
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	160	0.90	32.87	68,360
Customer service representatives	69,410	1.68	22.50	46,800
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	2,400	1.01	21.61	44,950
File clerks	1,460	1.22	21.73	45,210
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	3,340	0.84	17.64	36,690
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	1,690	0.71	20.85	43,380
Library assistants, clerical	910	0.75	19.32	40,190
Loan interviewers and clerks	4,580	1.74	25.24	52,500
Order clerks	830	0.65	22.62	47,060
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	1,190	0.84	24.22	50,380
Receptionists and information clerks	18,600	1.27	19.30	40,150
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	2,710	1.40	23.60	49,080
Information and record clerks, all other	2,970	1.36	24.31	50,560
Cargo and freight agents	2,700	1.82	23.15	48,160
Couriers and messengers	770	0.70	18.03	37,490
Public safety telecommunicators	900	0.59	29.23	60,800
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	3,950	1.23	24.22	50,370
Meter readers, utilities	280	0.95	32.93	68,500
Postal service clerks	640	0.54	29.87	62,130
Postal service mail carriers	3,770	0.74	29.45	61,260
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	1,660	0.98	27.61	57,440
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	8,410	1.44	28.81	59,930
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	14,180	1.09	21.58	44,880
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	280	0.37	21.98	45,710
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	5,000	0.70	36.49	75,890
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	2,510	1.07	26.15	54,390
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	12,250	0.97	23.56	49,010
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	22,380	0.85	23.90	49,720
Data entry keyers	2,980	1.45	21.48	44,680
Word processors and typists	40	0.07	25.17	52,360
Desktop publishers	50	0.82	28.67	59,640
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	6,300	1.81	23.90	49,710
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	690	0.72	18.13	37,700
Office clerks, general	34,690	0.91	24.26	50,460
Office machine operators, except computer	(5)	(5)	16.63	34,590
Statistical assistants	100	1.07	25.98	54,050
Office and administrative support workers, all other	2,970	1.00	22.64	47,080
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0038060. (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.