Bellingham, WA Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Bellingham, WA - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Bellingham, WA moved from $54,860 in May 2024 to $57,820 in May 2025 (+5.4%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Bellingham, WA sits +2.3 pp ahead of that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Home Health and Personal Care Aides shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Bellingham, WA
Home Health and Personal Care Aides publishes $44,080 here versus $35,800 nationally (+23.1%; 2,350metro-area jobs). Next is Fast Food and Counter Workers at $37,030 locally versus $31,200 nationally (+18.7%).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$44,080 in Bellingham, WA sits 23.1% above the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (2,350 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$37,030 in Bellingham, WA sits 18.7% above the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (2,830 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$37,250 in Bellingham, WA sits 13.3% above the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (2,190 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$37,840 in Bellingham, WA sits 6.9% above the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (2,830 published local jobs).
Home Health and Personal Care Aides and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Bellingham, WA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 13380 · Bellingham, WA $69K mean
MEAN-MEGA · RPP-MID · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-AHEAD · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MEGA #53/528
- RPP-MID 103.3
- OCC-MID 321 occs
- TOP-LEAD Chief Executives · $237K
- EMP-MIX Software Dev…
- TREND-AHEAD +2.3 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Phoenix-Mesa-Cha…
- BOOK-FULL 320 rows · May 2025
Read with Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ ($99 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 Bellingham, WA
Employment scale inside Bellingham, WA's top-pay list
Software Developers and Managers, All Other lead published employment inside Bellingham, WA's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Software Developers 640 jobs · $128,250
- 2. Managers, All Other 370 jobs · $140,910
- 3. Financial Managers 250 jobs · $158,960
- 4. Sales Managers 230 jobs · $133,220
- 5. Construction Managers 210 jobs · $156,580
- 6. Computer and Information Systems Managers 190 jobs · $169,640
- 7. Lawyers 190 jobs · $131,480
- 8. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 180 jobs · $169,470
- 9. Nurse Practitioners 150 jobs · $147,890
- 10. Pharmacists 140 jobs · $156,490
- 11. First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers 130 jobs · $137,720
- 12. Physician Assistants 120 jobs · $161,260
- 13. Industrial Production Managers 110 jobs · $150,800
- 14. Marketing Managers 110 jobs · $143,450
- 15. Physicians, All Other 100 jobs · $150,920
- 16. Dentists, General 90 jobs · $168,030
- 17. First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives 90 jobs · $132,730
- 18. Architectural and Engineering Managers 80 jobs · $193,360
Occupations Tracked
321
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$69,158
employment-weighted, 320 complete rows
Top Salary
$236,930
Chief Executives
Cost of Living
103.3
3% above US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Bellingham, WA
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chief Executives | $236,930 |
| 2 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $193,360 |
| 3 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $169,640 |
| 4 | Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary | $169,470 |
| 5 | Dentists, General | $168,030 |
| 6 | Physician Assistants | $161,260 |
| 7 | Financial Managers | $158,960 |
| 8 | Construction Managers | $156,580 |
| 9 | Pharmacists | $156,490 |
| 10 | Physicians, All Other | $150,920 |
| 11 | Industrial Production Managers | $150,800 |
| 12 | Veterinarians | $149,760 |
| 13 | Nurse Practitioners | $147,890 |
| 14 | Marketing Managers | $143,450 |
| 15 | Managers, All Other | $140,910 |
| 16 | Engineers, All Other | $140,220 |
| 17 | Human Resources Managers | $137,920 |
| 18 | First-Line Supervisors of Firefighting and Prevention Workers | $137,720 |
| 19 | Natural Sciences Managers | $134,220 |
| 20 | Sales Managers | $133,220 |
| 21 | Facilities Managers | $132,870 |
| 22 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $132,730 |
| 23 | Lawyers | $131,480 |
| 24 | Public Relations Managers | $128,370 |
| 25 | Software Developers | $128,250 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Bellingham, WA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $35,510 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $35,970 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $36,070 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $36,180 |
| Food Servers, Nonrestaurant | $36,450 |
| Demonstrators and Product Promoters | $36,780 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $37,030 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $37,110 |
| Cashiers | $37,250 |
| Gambling Dealers | $37,410 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in WA
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 WA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($69,158 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
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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.