Workers in the Anchorage, AK Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $36.14 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($66.00), legal ($63.72), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($61.54). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($18.14), personal care and service ($20.73), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($20.85). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment shares in the Anchorage area included office and administrative support (12.3 percent), transportation and material moving (10.2 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent) and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.0 percent).

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Anchorage had 17,980 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 10.2 percent of local area employment, compared to the 8.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $34.18, compared to the national wage of $23.96.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included stockers and order fillers (4,070), hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (2,620), and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (1,620). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were air traffic controllers ($73.34) and transportation inspectors ($61.68). At the lower end of the wage scale were parking attendants ($17.51) and shuttle drivers and chauffeurs ($19.37). (Detailed data for the transportation and material moving occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0011260/2025.)

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 Anchorage area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, commercial pilots were employed at 10.94 times the national rate in Anchorage, and airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers, at 10.80 times the U.S. average. School bus drivers had a location quotient of 0.96 in Anchorage, 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 Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

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 Anchorage, AK Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anchorage Municipality and Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

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 transportation and material moving occupations, Anchorage metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	17,980	1.15	34.18	71,100
Aircraft cargo handling supervisors	130	11.65	34.28	71,300
First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	1,060	1.49	33.38	69,430
Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers	1,270	10.80	(6)	255,140
Commercial pilots	590	10.94	(6)	109,100
Air traffic controllers	280	10.73	73.34	152,540
Airfield operations specialists	90	5.35	31.60	65,720
Driver/sales workers	950	2.03	23.11	48,070
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	1,620	0.69	32.48	67,560
Light truck drivers	1,400	1.25	30.83	64,130
Bus drivers, school	440	0.96	24.15	50,240
Bus drivers, transit and intercity	150	0.82	30.19	62,800
Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs	460	1.63	19.37	40,280
Motor vehicle operators, all other	70	1.27	30.55	63,550
Sailors and marine oilers	80	2.17	34.15	71,040
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels	140	3.27	49.22	102,370
Ship engineers	50	4.95	53.71	111,710
Parking attendants	70	0.43	17.51	36,420
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	190	1.60	20.27	42,160
Aircraft service attendants	270	7.58	23.77	49,450
Transportation inspectors	110	4.03	61.68	128,300
Transportation workers, all other	(5)	(5)	17.63	36,670
Industrial truck and tractor operators	230	0.26	26.66	55,440
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	400	0.92	20.71	43,070
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	2,620	0.78	24.05	50,030
Packers and packagers, hand	340	0.54	20.05	41,700
Stockers and order fillers	4,070	1.26	20.82	43,300
Pump operators, except wellhead pumpers	60	5.38	36.87	76,690
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	110	0.68	26.77	55,680
Material moving workers, all other	30	1.14	25.83	53,730
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Anchorage, AK Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0011260/2025. (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. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.