BLS OEWS May 2025 · released May 2026
Salary Percentile Lookup
Pick an occupation and a metro (or state). You get the actual 10th–90th percentile wage distribution the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published for that combination — and, optionally, where your own number sits on it.
Methodology
Source. All wage figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025 reference period, released May 2026 — a federal survey of about 1.1 million business establishments, collected over a three-year cycle, producing wage estimates for ~830 detailed occupations (2018 SOC) across the nation, states, and ~580 metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Data is ingested on a schedule into pre-computed tables; nothing is fetched from BLS at page load, and no self-reported salary data from any source is used or blended in.
What the chart shows. BLS publishes five points of each wage distribution: the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles. The chart draws one bar between each adjacent pair, sized so the bar's area equals the share of workers in that range (15%, 25%, 25%, 15%) — a construction fully derivable from the five published numbers. It is deliberately a histogram, not a fitted curve: a smooth curve would require inventing data between BLS's published points. The 10% of workers below the 10th and above the 90th percentile are noted but not drawn, because BLS publishes no boundary for those tails.
Suppressed combinations. BLS withholds estimates that fail its publication standards (small samples, confidentiality). When your requested metro is withheld, this tool falls back to the state figure, then the national one — always labeled, never silently, and never interpolated.
Scope and limitations. OEWS wages cover base pay, commissions, tips, and production bonuses, but exclude overtime premiums, stock, and equity compensation — for equity-heavy roles the true total compensation distribution sits above these figures. Estimates are a May 2025 snapshot published annually, so rapid recent wage changes won't appear until the next release. Metro areas follow OMB metropolitan statistical area definitions, which may differ from local intuition about where a metro begins and ends.
Informational only, not professional or financial advice. Last reviewed: July 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Where does this salary data come from?
Every figure comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025 reference period, released in May 2026. OEWS surveys about 1.1 million business establishments over a three-year cycle, covering roughly 830 detailed occupations. Nothing on this page is self-reported, estimated, or blended from other sources.
Why does my metro show a statewide or national figure instead?
BLS withholds wage estimates for occupation-and-area combinations where the sample is too small to meet its publication standards. When that happens, this tool shows the next-broadest figure BLS did publish — state first, then national — and labels the substitution explicitly. It never interpolates or estimates a number BLS didn't publish.
How is this different from Glassdoor, Payscale, or Levels.fyi?
Those sites build their numbers from voluntary, self-reported submissions, which skew toward whoever chooses to submit and can't be independently verified. OEWS is a mandatory government survey of employer payroll records. The trade-off: OEWS measures wages (including commissions and incentive pay) but excludes stock and equity compensation, and it's published annually rather than in real time.
How often is this data updated?
BLS publishes OEWS estimates once a year, with a May reference date, released the following spring. This page currently serves the May 2025 release (published May 2026) and is updated when BLS publishes the next vintage. The release date shown is stated on every result — you always know which survey year a number comes from.
Related tools
Weighing a career change? Put two or three jobs side by side and compare their full pay ranges in the same city, from the same BLS data.
Open tool →Same job, different city: see how pay for your occupation changes across metro areas before you relocate or take a remote offer.