Columbus, GA-AL Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 89.3) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Columbus, GA-AL moved from $40,780 in May 2024 to $43,540 in May 2025 (+6.8%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Columbus, GA-AL sits +3.7 pp ahead of 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.
Waiters and Waitresses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Columbus, GA-AL
Waiters and Waitresses publishes $20,800 here versus $35,230 nationally (-41.0%; 2,080metro-area jobs). Next is Fast Food and Counter Workers at $23,300 locally versus $31,200 nationally (-25.3%).
- Waiters and Waitresses$20,800 in Columbus, GA-AL sits 41.0% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (2,080 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$23,300 in Columbus, GA-AL sits 25.3% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (4,060 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$82,330 in Columbus, GA-AL sits 22.2% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (2,140 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$28,180 in Columbus, GA-AL sits 20.4% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (3,580 published local jobs).
Waiters and Waitresses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Columbus, GA-AL; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 17980 · Columbus, GA-AL $55K mean
MEAN-LOW · RPP-LOW · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-AHEAD · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-LOW #364/528
- RPP-LOW 89.3
- OCC-MID 331 occs
- TOP-LEAD Nurse Anesthet… · $230K
- EMP-MIX Software Dev…
- TREND-AHEAD +3.7 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Central Pennsylv…
- BOOK-FULL 326 rows · May 2025
Read with Central Pennsylvania nonmetropolitan area ($14 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 Columbus, GA-AL
Where Columbus, GA-AL already employs the upper wage tier
Software Developers and Nurse Practitioners lead published employment inside Columbus, GA-AL's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Software Developers 1,050 jobs · $116,150
- 2. Nurse Practitioners 370 jobs · $121,530
- 3. Financial Managers 340 jobs · $141,460
- 4. Physicians, All Other 320 jobs · $191,360
- 5. Computer and Information Systems Managers 300 jobs · $166,750
- 6. Pharmacists 300 jobs · $132,790
- 7. Sales Managers 270 jobs · $136,340
- 8. Industrial Production Managers 150 jobs · $128,520
- 9. Human Resources Managers 140 jobs · $130,870
- 10. Marketing Managers 110 jobs · $145,120
- 11. Computer Network Architects 100 jobs · $126,380
- 12. Family Medicine Physicians 90 jobs · $179,420
- 13. Architectural and Engineering Managers 90 jobs · $162,450
- 14. Physician Assistants 80 jobs · $117,030
- 15. Chief Executives 70 jobs · $169,630
- 16. Purchasing Managers 70 jobs · $132,510
- 17. Facilities Managers 70 jobs · $125,530
- 18. Dentists, General 60 jobs · $196,310
Occupations Tracked
331
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$54,773
employment-weighted, 326 complete rows
Top Salary
$229,990
Nurse Anesthetists
Cost of Living
89.3
11% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Columbus, GA-AL, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Developers | $116,150 |
| 2 | Nurse Practitioners | $121,530 |
| 3 | Financial Managers | $141,460 |
| 4 | Physicians, All Other | $191,360 |
| 5 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $166,750 |
| 6 | Pharmacists | $132,790 |
| 7 | Sales Managers | $136,340 |
| 8 | Industrial Production Managers | $128,520 |
| 9 | Human Resources Managers | $130,870 |
| 10 | Marketing Managers | $145,120 |
| 11 | Computer Network Architects | $126,380 |
| 12 | Family Medicine Physicians | $179,420 |
| 13 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $162,450 |
| 14 | Physician Assistants | $117,030 |
| 15 | Chief Executives | $169,630 |
| 16 | Purchasing Managers | $132,510 |
| 17 | Facilities Managers | $125,530 |
| 18 | Dentists, General | $196,310 |
| 19 | Pediatricians, General | $181,990 |
| 20 | Engineers, All Other | $118,770 |
| 21 | Database Administrators | $119,740 |
| 22 | Optometrists | $121,830 |
| 23 | Database Architects | $118,880 |
| 24 | Psychologists, All Other | $118,710 |
| 25 | Nurse Anesthetists | $229,990 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Columbus, GA-AL
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $20,800 |
| Bartenders | $20,940 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $23,300 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | $23,580 |
| Substitute Teachers, Short-Term | $23,670 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $24,140 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $24,890 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $25,090 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $25,540 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $25,740 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in GA
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 GA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($54,773 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
What does the lower price level do to Columbus, GA-AL wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Columbus, GA-AL? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Columbus, GA-AL? ▼
Which federal tables feed Columbus, GA-AL's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Columbus, GA-AL wage figures in a real decision
- Nurse Anesthetists leads published medians in Columbus, GA-AL at $229,990/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Nurse Anesthetists
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $54,773 adjusts to about $61,339 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 89.3. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for GA 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.