Workers in the Anchorage, AK Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $35.55 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 ($64.49), healthcare practitioners and technical ($57.37), and architecture and engineering ($54.05). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($18.77), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($20.54), and personal care and service ($20.63). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Anchorage area included office and administrative support (13.0 percent), transportation and material moving (9.9 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.2 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent); and computer and mathematical (1.7 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. Anchorage had 22,720 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 $25.89, compared to the national wage of $24.12.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers (2,990), secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (2,660), and general office clerks (2,560). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were public safety telecommunicators ($38.24) and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers ($34.12). At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($17.63) and switchboard operators, including answering service ($18.36). (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/0011260.)

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 office and administrative support group. For instance, reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks were employed at 3.42 times the national rate in Anchorage, and cargo and freight agents, at 2.79 times the U.S. average. Postal service mail carriers had a location quotient of 0.99 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 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Anchorage, AK Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,921 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 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.

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, Anchorage metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	22,720	1.1	25.89	53,850
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	2,990	1.76	34.12	70,980
Switchboard operators, including answering service	50	1.30	18.36	38,200
Bill and account collectors	190	1.00	27.92	58,070
Billing and posting clerks	220	0.46	26.18	54,440
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	2,260	1.37	26.96	56,080
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	150	0.82	28.92	60,150
Procurement clerks	100	1.45	27.08	56,330
Tellers	650	1.69	22.27	46,320
Financial clerks, all other	60	1.47	26.33	54,760
Court, municipal, and license clerks	230	1.18	26.08	54,240
Customer service representatives	1,680	0.55	22.30	46,380
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	270	1.53	28.06	58,370
File clerks	(5)	(5)	21.30	44,300
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	330	1.12	17.63	36,670
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	80	0.42	24.33	50,600
Library assistants, clerical	30	0.37	22.75	47,310
Loan interviewers and clerks	270	1.40	25.86	53,780
Order clerks	110	1.16	20.71	43,070
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	140	1.33	26.64	55,400
Receptionists and information clerks	1,050	0.96	21.46	44,630
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	490	3.42	23.58	49,040
Information and record clerks, all other	340	2.07	25.96	53,990
Cargo and freight agents	310	2.79	26.50	55,110
Couriers and messengers	140	1.77	19.99	41,580
Public safety telecommunicators	130	1.09	38.24	79,540
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	350	1.47	29.35	61,040
Postal service clerks	100	1.15	29.51	61,380
Postal service mail carriers	380	0.99	27.61	57,430
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	220	1.70	26.25	54,600
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	210	0.48	26.86	55,880
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	460	0.48	24.45	50,850
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	710	1.33	32.29	67,160
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	420	2.39	29.44	61,240
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	1,370	1.45	23.25	48,370
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	2,660	1.35	21.78	45,290
Data entry keyers	130	0.83	20.87	43,410
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	50	0.18	20.26	42,130
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	50	0.74	20.27	42,170
Office clerks, general	2,560	0.90	25.42	52,880
Office machine operators, except computer	70	2.40	22.23	46,250
Office and administrative support workers, all other	470	2.10	22.88	47,580
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. (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.