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.
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
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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.