Workers in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.77 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 ($61.01), legal ($59.26), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($56.76). Lower paying occupations included healthcare support ($18.13), food preparation and serving related ($18.57), and personal care and service ($20.08). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Riverside area included transportation and material moving (16.1 percent), office and administrative support (10.7 percent), and food preparation and serving related (10.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.3 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.7 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.9 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Riverside had 267,890 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 16.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 9.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.54, compared to the national wage of $22.45.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (81,000), stockers and order fillers (47,990), and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (43,170). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were air traffic controllers and transportation inspectors, with mean hourly wages of $51.43 and $37.21, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians ($16.95) and parking attendants ($17.46). (Detailed data for the transportation and material moving occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40140.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 Riverside area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, industrial truck and tractor operators were employed at 3.4 times the national rate in Riverside, and hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, at 2.5 times the U.S. average. Automotive and watercraft service attendants had a location quotient of 1.1 in Riverside, 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.

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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 6,131 establishments with a response rate of 56 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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Riverside County and San Bernardino 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, Riverside metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Transportation and material moving occupations	267,890	1.8	23.54	48,950
Aircraft cargo handling supervisors	320	3.2	30.92	64,300
First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors	9,100	1.4	31.11	64,710
Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers	470	0.5	(6)	299,310
Commercial pilots	290	0.5	(6)	112,020
Air traffic controllers	130	0.5	51.43	106,970
Airfield operations specialists	120	0.6	29.09	60,500
Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians	160	1.3	16.95	35,250
Driver/sales workers	6,120	1.2	22.35	46,490
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	43,170	1.9	28.50	59,280
Light truck drivers	13,860	1.3	23.09	48,030
Bus drivers, school	2,790	0.7	24.49	50,930
Bus drivers, transit and intercity	2,580	1.3	30.48	63,400
Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs	1,450	0.7	18.95	39,420
Motor vehicle operators, all other	330	0.6	22.45	46,690
Parking attendants	580	0.5	17.46	36,320
Automotive and watercraft service attendants	1,110	1.1	18.56	38,600
Aircraft service attendants	160	0.6	21.07	43,830
Traffic technicians	50	0.6	32.33	67,250
Transportation inspectors	250	0.8	37.21	77,400
Passenger attendants	280	1.3	18.48	38,450
Transportation workers, all other	120	1.0	22.11	45,990
Conveyor operators and tenders	420	1.6	18.88	39,270
Crane and tower operators	250	0.6	31.15	64,780
Industrial truck and tractor operators	29,180	3.4	23.63	49,150
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment	5,190	1.3	18.15	37,750
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	81,000	2.5	21.37	44,460
Machine feeders and offbearers	(5)	(5)	21.52	44,760
Packers and packagers, hand	17,100	2.4	20.59	42,840
Stockers and order fillers	47,990	1.5	21.49	44,710
Refuse and recyclable material collectors	940	0.6	27.04	56,230
Material moving workers, all other	1,470	5.6	20.31	42,240
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_40140.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. (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.