Asheville, NC Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Asheville, NC - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Asheville, NC moved from $44,990 in May 2024 to $46,870 in May 2025 (+4.2%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Asheville, NC sits +1.1 pp ahead of that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Registered Nurses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Asheville, NC
Registered Nurses publishes $81,590 here versus $97,550 nationally (-16.4%; 4,680metro-area jobs). Next is Customer Service Representatives at $38,980 locally versus $44,770 nationally (-12.9%).
- Registered Nurses$81,590 in Asheville, NC sits 16.4% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (4,680 published local jobs).
- Customer Service Representatives$38,980 in Asheville, NC sits 12.9% below the national Customer Service Representatives median of $44,770 (2,850 published local jobs).
- Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers$51,750 in Asheville, NC sits 11.7% below the national Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers median of $58,640 (2,040 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$93,470 in Asheville, NC sits 11.6% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (2,590 published local jobs).
Registered Nurses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Asheville, NC; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 11700 · Asheville, NC $60K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-MID · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #209/528
- RPP-MID 96.5
- OCC-MOST 422 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $360K
- EMP-MIX Physicians,…
- TREND-INLINE +1.1 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Battle Creek, MI
- BOOK-FULL 412 rows · May 2025
Read with Battle Creek, MI (+$2 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 Asheville, NC
Employment scale inside Asheville, NC's top-pay list
Physicians, All Other and Software Developers lead published employment inside Asheville, NC's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Physicians, All Other 1,020 jobs · $360,010
- 2. Software Developers 780 jobs · $134,350
- 3. Managers, All Other 580 jobs · $124,150
- 4. Pharmacists 520 jobs · $136,460
- 5. Nurse Practitioners 520 jobs · $127,770
- 6. Physician Assistants 460 jobs · $131,260
- 7. Financial Managers 450 jobs · $152,270
- 8. Computer and Information Systems Managers 420 jobs · $163,290
- 9. Industrial Production Managers 360 jobs · $125,140
- 10. General Internal Medicine Physicians 340 jobs · $225,830
- 11. Electrical Engineers 300 jobs · $123,480
- 12. Architectural and Engineering Managers 200 jobs · $160,140
- 13. Information Security Analysts 200 jobs · $149,350
- 14. Veterinarians 190 jobs · $130,330
- 15. Marketing Managers 160 jobs · $150,610
- 16. Nurse Anesthetists 150 jobs · $223,630
- 17. Human Resources Managers 150 jobs · $125,420
- 18. Dentists, General 140 jobs · $202,630
Occupations Tracked
422
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$59,517
employment-weighted, 412 complete rows
Top Salary
$360,010
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
96.5
3% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Asheville, NC
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Physicians, All Other | $360,010 |
| 2 | Chief Executives | $270,520 |
| 3 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $225,830 |
| 4 | Nurse Anesthetists | $223,630 |
| 5 | Family Medicine Physicians | $212,710 |
| 6 | Dentists, General | $202,630 |
| 7 | Pediatricians, General | $170,140 |
| 8 | Optometrists | $167,980 |
| 9 | Psychiatrists | $164,520 |
| 10 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $163,290 |
| 11 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $160,140 |
| 12 | Psychologists, All Other | $152,550 |
| 13 | Financial Managers | $152,270 |
| 14 | Marketing Managers | $150,610 |
| 15 | Information Security Analysts | $149,350 |
| 16 | Pharmacists | $136,460 |
| 17 | Software Developers | $134,350 |
| 18 | Natural Sciences Managers | $133,470 |
| 19 | Physician Assistants | $131,260 |
| 20 | Veterinarians | $130,330 |
| 21 | Nurse Practitioners | $127,770 |
| 22 | Human Resources Managers | $125,420 |
| 23 | Industrial Production Managers | $125,140 |
| 24 | Managers, All Other | $124,150 |
| 25 | Electrical Engineers | $123,480 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Asheville, NC
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $27,320 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $28,120 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $28,700 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $28,810 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $28,810 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $29,120 |
| Cashiers | $29,400 |
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary | $29,600 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $30,090 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $30,450 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in NC
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 NC. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($59,517 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.