Auburn-Opelika, AL Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 87.9) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Auburn-Opelika, AL moved from $38,060 in May 2024 to $39,070 in May 2025 (+2.7%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Auburn-Opelika, AL sits -0.4 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Based on wage level, year-over-year wage growth, and regional-price-parity-adjusted purchasing power from BLS and BEA sources, not job availability, industry mix, or day-to-day livability.
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Auburn-Opelika, AL
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators publishes $34,530 here versus $44,650 nationally (-22.7%; 2,000metro-area jobs). Next is Fast Food and Counter Workers at $24,600 locally versus $31,200 nationally (-21.2%).
- Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$34,530 in Auburn-Opelika, AL sits 22.7% below the national Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators median of $44,650 (2,000 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$24,600 in Auburn-Opelika, AL sits 21.2% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (2,370 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$29,140 in Auburn-Opelika, AL sits 17.7% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (2,300 published local jobs).
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Auburn-Opelika, AL; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 12220 · Auburn-Opelika, AL $51K mean
MEAN-TRACE · RPP-QUIET · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-MOST
- MEAN-TRACE #458/528
- RPP-QUIET 87.9
- OCC-MID 260 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $294K
- EMP-MIX General and…
- TREND-INLINE -0.4 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Middle Georgia n…
- BOOK-MOST 256 rows · May 2025
Read with Middle Georgia nonmetropolitan area (+$2 on published-row mean) · Salary vs. cost of living
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 Auburn-Opelika, AL
Where Auburn-Opelika, AL already employs the upper wage tier
General and Operations Managers and Construction Managers lead published employment inside Auburn-Opelika, AL's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. General and Operations Managers 920 jobs · $103,380
- 2. Construction Managers 400 jobs · $100,140
- 3. Software Developers 290 jobs · $120,310
- 4. Medical and Health Services Managers 290 jobs · $100,850
- 5. Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary 260 jobs · $103,580
- 6. Pharmacists 210 jobs · $133,180
- 7. Physicians, All Other 180 jobs · $293,630
- 8. Computer and Information Systems Managers 180 jobs · $129,590
- 9. Financial Managers 180 jobs · $129,580
- 10. Nurse Practitioners 180 jobs · $108,500
- 11. Lawyers 120 jobs · $100,560
- 12. Industrial Production Managers 100 jobs · $110,980
- 13. Mechanical Engineers 100 jobs · $100,230
- 14. Sales Managers 90 jobs · $116,000
- 15. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 90 jobs · $99,870
- 16. Architectural and Engineering Managers 70 jobs · $144,800
- 17. Information Security Analysts 70 jobs · $120,950
- 18. Human Resources Managers 70 jobs · $108,590
Occupations Tracked
260
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$51,224
employment-weighted, 256 complete rows
Top Salary
$293,630
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
87.9
12% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Auburn-Opelika, AL, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
Lowest Paying Jobs in Auburn-Opelika, AL
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $20,900 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $21,050 |
| Cooks, Short Order | $21,860 |
| Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary | $22,600 |
| Childcare Workers | $22,640 |
| Library Assistants, Clerical | $23,300 |
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary | $23,300 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $23,520 |
| Recreation Workers | $23,720 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $24,600 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in AL
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 AL. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($51,224 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
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
What does the lower price level do to Auburn-Opelika, AL wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Auburn-Opelika, AL? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Auburn-Opelika, AL? ▼
Which federal tables feed Auburn-Opelika, AL's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Auburn-Opelika, AL wage figures in a real decision
- Physicians, All Other leads published medians in Auburn-Opelika, AL at $293,630/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Physicians, All Other
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $51,224 adjusts to about $58,253 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 87.9. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for AL before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
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.