Workers in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $35.16 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 ($68.70), healthcare practitioners and technical ($68.51), and architecture and engineering ($64.05). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($21.03), healthcare support ($21.89), and personal care and service ($22.66). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment shares in the Santa Cruz area included office and administrative support (12.0 percent), food preparation and serving related (11.4 percent), and sales and related (8.6 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.7 percent); life, physical, and social science (1.3 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.3 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. Santa Cruz had 11,810 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.0 percent of local area employment, compared to the 11.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $27.55, compared to the national wage of $24.79.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included general office clerks (3,360), bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (1,120), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (960). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants ($43.20) and public safety telecommunicators ($42.58). At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($19.43) and receptionists and information clerks ($22.41). (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/0042100/2025.)

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 Santa Cruz area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, general office clerks were employed at 2.15 times the national rate in Santa Cruz, and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks, at 1.55 times the U.S. average. Production, planning, and expediting clerks had a location quotient of 0.98 in Santa Cruz, 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 California Employment Development Department.

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 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Santa Cruz 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.

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