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The latest state-by-state comparison identified here is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2025 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) annual average wage for all industries and ownership types. Use the official 2025 QCEW state tables to look up each state’s value; the measure is an average across covered jobs, not a typical worker’s salary or a cost-of-living-adjusted figure.
What “average salary by state” means in this comparison
The QCEW measure is average annual wages per covered employee. The BLS calculates it by dividing total annual wages by annual average employment. It is therefore a mean-style aggregate for jobs covered by the program, not a median and not a promise about what an individual earns.
For an inclusive state comparison, select the BLS table for 2025 total-covered, all-ownership, all-industry employment by state. The BLS also publishes a separate private-ownership table. Those measures answer different questions, so keep the ownership category consistent across every state in a ranking.
The BLS annual averages publication includes geographic tables beyond the 50 states. If you include Washington, D.C., or territories, identify them separately rather than treating them as states. The publication describes 2025 annual averages as final counts for covered employment and wages.
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How to find a state’s 2025 average wage
- Open the BLS Employment and Wages Online Annual Averages, 2025 publication.
- Choose the state table for total-covered employment across all ownerships and industries. Do not substitute the private-ownership table unless you want a private-sector-only comparison.
- Find the state and use its average annual wage value. For a ranking, sort the values from that same table; do not combine rows from different ownership categories, years, or statistical programs.
- When sharing the result, label it “2025 QCEW average annual wage per covered employee” and note that it is an aggregate mean.
What the QCEW covers—and what it leaves out
In 2025, QCEW covered 155.7 million jobs. After adjustment for multiple jobholders, an estimated 149.5 million workers in those jobs represented 97.4% of civilian wage and salary employment. The BLS also reported $12.3 trillion in covered-worker pay. These are national coverage figures, not state wage amounts, and they do not mean the dataset includes every worker or all personal income.
QCEW is based on quarterly employer reports to state workforce agencies under state unemployment insurance laws and the federal UCFE program. It excludes self-employed people and some other worker groups. The BLS advises readers to account for differences in state unemployment insurance laws and data coverage when comparing states.
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Why a state average is not a like-for-like pay comparison
A state’s all-industry average reflects both wage levels and the types of jobs in its workforce. A larger share of high-paying occupations can raise the state average even if pay for a particular occupation is unchanged. The mix of full-time and part-time work also matters. Bonuses, overtime, seasonal patterns, labor turnover, and other factors can affect annual averages.
Annual wages in QCEW do not necessarily represent a full year of earnings for each person: workers may not remain with one employer all year, and some may work for more than one employer. The result is useful for comparing aggregate covered wages, but it is not a direct comparison of workers doing equivalent jobs.
The QCEW figure is also not adjusted for differences in living costs. A higher nominal average does not, by itself, establish greater purchasing power or a better financial outcome in that state.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.For a particular job, use occupation-specific wage data
If you want to compare nurses, software developers, teachers, or another named occupation, use the BLS May 2025 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates instead of the all-industry QCEW average. OEWS provides state estimates by occupation, and its state pages link to a workbook with 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentile wage estimates. Percentiles show more of the wage distribution than a single average.
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The BLS separately labels May 2025 OEWS research estimates by state and industry or ownership. These are not interchangeable with standard OEWS state estimates: the BLS cautions that model errors can be higher and that these research estimates do not receive all quality checks applied to standard estimates.
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Choose the right measure for your question
- Broad state wage comparison: 2025 QCEW total-covered, all-ownership, all-industry state table.
- Private-sector state comparison: the separate 2025 QCEW private-ownership table, labeled as private ownership.
- Pay for a named occupation: May 2025 OEWS state estimates, with percentiles when a range is more useful than one figure.
- Purchasing power: the QCEW average alone cannot answer this; a separate, explicitly stated cost-of-living adjustment would be needed.
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