Workers in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $31.84 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($64.67), healthcare practitioners and technical ($56.19), and computer and mathematical ($49.37). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($21.02), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($21.57), and healthcare support ($21.91). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Mount Vernon area included office and administrative support (11.5 percent), sales and related (9.5 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.5 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.7 percent); and life, physical, and social science (1.1 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—sales and related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Mount Vernon had 4,750 jobs in sales and related, accounting for 9.5 percent of local area employment, compared to the 8.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.91, compared to the national wage of $25.62.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the sales and related group included retail salespersons (1,750), cashiers (1,180), and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers (460). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products and first-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers, with mean hourly wages of $43.12 and $41.96, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were demonstrators and product promoters ($18.13) and cashiers ($18.49). (Detailed data for the sales and related occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_34580.htm.)

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 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Mount Vernon area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the sales and related group. For instance, counter and rental clerks were employed at 1.7 times the national rate in Mount Vernon, and retail salespersons, at 1.4 times the U.S. average. Cashiers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Mount Vernon, 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 Washington Employment Security Department.

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 580 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 are 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 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 922 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Skagit 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 sales and related occupations, Mount Vernon metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Sales and related occupations	4,750	1.1	24.91	51,800
First-line supervisors of retail sales workers	460	1.3	27.72	57,660
First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers	50	0.6	41.96	87,270
Cashiers	1,180	1.1	18.49	38,450
Counter and rental clerks	210	1.7	20.59	42,830
Parts salespersons	160	1.9	22.48	46,750
Retail salespersons	1,750	1.4	21.33	44,360
Insurance sales agents	110	0.7	34.03	70,780
Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents	160	1.0	41.27	85,840
Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services, and travel	160	0.4	40.96	85,190
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products	350	0.8	43.12	89,700
Demonstrators and product promoters	40	2.6	18.13	37,720
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_34580.htm. (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.