Appleton, WI Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Appleton, WI - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Appleton, WI moved from $48,490 in May 2024 to $49,910 in May 2025 (+2.9%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Appleton, WI sits -0.2 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Registered Nurses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Appleton, WI
Registered Nurses publishes $86,680 here versus $97,550 nationally (-11.1%; 2,310metro-area jobs). Next is Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand at $43,610 locally versus $40,240 nationally (+8.4%).
- Registered Nurses$86,680 in Appleton, WI sits 11.1% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (2,310 published local jobs).
- Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand$43,610 in Appleton, WI sits 8.4% above the national Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand median of $40,240 (2,610 published local jobs).
- Stockers and Order Fillers$34,430 in Appleton, WI sits 7.8% below the national Stockers and Order Fillers median of $37,330 (2,000 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$29,010 in Appleton, WI sits 7.0% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (3,150 published local jobs).
Registered Nurses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Appleton, WI; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 11540 · Appleton, WI $61K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #174/528
- RPP-LOW 92.4
- OCC-MID 347 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $406K
- EMP-MIX General and…
- TREND-INLINE -0.2 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Toledo, OH
- BOOK-FULL 344 rows · May 2025
Read with Toledo, OH ($16 on published-row mean) · Highest-paying careers
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer — not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Appleton, WI
Employment scale inside Appleton, WI's top-pay list
General and Operations Managers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Appleton, WI's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. General and Operations Managers 1,640 jobs · $109,890
- 2. Financial Managers 580 jobs · $134,990
- 3. Construction Managers 460 jobs · $122,710
- 4. Sales Managers 420 jobs · $138,850
- 5. Lawyers 250 jobs · $126,390
- 6. Chief Executives 230 jobs · $201,300
- 7. Computer and Information Systems Managers 230 jobs · $149,070
- 8. Architectural and Engineering Managers 200 jobs · $134,430
- 9. Pharmacists 190 jobs · $144,630
- 10. Medical and Health Services Managers 170 jobs · $122,660
- 11. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 170 jobs · $118,390
- 12. Physicians, All Other 160 jobs · $406,080
- 13. Marketing Managers 160 jobs · $128,360
- 14. Nurse Practitioners 150 jobs · $129,030
- 15. Dentists, General 130 jobs · $206,650
- 16. Physician Assistants 120 jobs · $128,270
- 17. Human Resources Managers 120 jobs · $126,580
- 18. Optometrists 60 jobs · $150,060
Occupations Tracked
347
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$60,848
employment-weighted, 344 complete rows
Top Salary
$406,080
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
92.4
8% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Appleton, WI
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Physicians, All Other | $406,080 |
| 2 | Nurse Anesthetists | $269,690 |
| 3 | Dentists, General | $206,650 |
| 4 | Chief Executives | $201,300 |
| 5 | Optometrists | $150,060 |
| 6 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $149,070 |
| 7 | Pharmacists | $144,630 |
| 8 | Sales Managers | $138,850 |
| 9 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | $135,690 |
| 10 | Financial Managers | $134,990 |
| 11 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $134,430 |
| 12 | Computer Network Architects | $129,410 |
| 13 | Nurse Practitioners | $129,030 |
| 14 | Marketing Managers | $128,360 |
| 15 | Physician Assistants | $128,270 |
| 16 | Human Resources Managers | $126,580 |
| 17 | Lawyers | $126,390 |
| 18 | Purchasing Managers | $123,490 |
| 19 | Construction Managers | $122,710 |
| 20 | Medical and Health Services Managers | $122,660 |
| 21 | Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary | $118,390 |
| 22 | Clinical and Counseling Psychologists | $117,750 |
| 23 | Sales Engineers | $116,570 |
| 24 | Architects, Except Landscape and Naval | $110,990 |
| 25 | General and Operations Managers | $109,890 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Appleton, WI
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Bartenders | $23,330 |
| Parking Attendants | $25,980 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $26,780 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $26,820 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | $27,560 |
| Driver/Sales Workers | $27,590 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $27,680 |
| Cooks, Short Order | $27,720 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $27,870 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $28,480 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in WI
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside WI. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($60,848 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Related federal data
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.