Workers in the Boise City, ID Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.65 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 ($55.42), computer and mathematical ($50.34), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($48.58). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.48), personal care and service ($16.94), and healthcare support ($18.51). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Boise City area included office and administrative support (13.5 percent), transportation and material moving (8.9 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.3 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent); life, physical, and social science (1.2 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 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. Boise City had 34,260 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 8.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 8.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.07, compared to the national wage of $23.44.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (9,440), heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (5,860), and stockers and order fillers (5,570). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were crane and tower operators ($37.49) and aircraft cargo handling supervisors ($32.30). At the lower end of the wage scale were parking attendants ($16.27) and shuttle drivers and chauffeurs ($16.82). (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/0014260.)

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 Boise City area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, light truck drivers were employed at 1.77 times the national rate in Boise City. Driver/sales workers had a location quotient of 0.98 in Boise City, 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 Idaho Department of Labor.

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 Boise City, ID Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,072 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 Boise City, ID Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Ada County, Boise County, Canyon County, Gem County, and Owyhee 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 transportation and material moving occupations, Boise City metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	34,260	1	24.07	50,060
Aircraft cargo handling supervisors	40	1.60	32.30	67,190
First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	1,320	0.87	30.43	63,290
Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers	290	1.15	(5)	(5)
Commercial pilots	130	1.03	(6)	126,180
Airfield operations specialists	40	1.01	29.86	62,120
Driver/sales workers	1,030	0.98	18.97	39,460
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	5,860	1.13	27.48	57,150
Light truck drivers	4,420	1.77	27.08	56,320
Bus drivers, school	1,130	1.16	20.60	42,850
Bus drivers, transit and intercity	140	0.37	24.80	51,590
Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs	350	0.61	16.82	34,980
Motor vehicle operators, all other	50	0.39	17.46	36,310
Parking attendants	180	0.52	16.27	33,830
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	60	0.24	20.57	42,780
Traffic technicians	40	2.24	30.88	64,230
Crane and tower operators	(5)	(5)	37.49	77,970
Industrial truck and tractor operators	960	0.47	23.35	48,570
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	1,120	1.19	17.49	36,380
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	9,440	1.26	19.89	41,380
Packers and packagers, hand	1,010	0.67	18.16	37,770
Stockers and order fillers	5,570	0.80	18.23	37,910
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	260	0.75	23.00	47,830
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Boise City, ID Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0014260. (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.