Columbus, IN Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Columbus, IN - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Columbus, IN moved from $46,490 in May 2024 to $48,470 in May 2025 (+4.3%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Columbus, IN sits +1.2 pp ahead of that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Columbus, IN
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators publishes $46,950 here versus $44,650 nationally (+5.2%; 2,980metro-area jobs).
- Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$46,950 in Columbus, IN sits 5.2% above the national Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators median of $44,650 (2,980 published local jobs).
Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Columbus, IN; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 18020 · Columbus, IN $61K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-THIN · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-MOST
- MEAN-MID #185/528
- RPP-LOW 93.0
- OCC-THIN 187 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $369K
- EMP-MIX Mechanical E…
- TREND-INLINE +1.2 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Morgantown, WV
- BOOK-MOST 186 rows · May 2025
Read with Morgantown, WV ($12 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 Columbus, IN
Employment scale inside Columbus, IN's top-pay list
Mechanical Engineers and General and Operations Managers lead published employment inside Columbus, IN's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Mechanical Engineers 1,000 jobs · $127,700
- 2. General and Operations Managers 590 jobs · $112,760
- 3. Industrial Production Managers 360 jobs · $130,490
- 4. Architectural and Engineering Managers 310 jobs · $180,830
- 5. Software Developers 280 jobs · $104,880
- 6. Logisticians 280 jobs · $100,720
- 7. Financial Managers 180 jobs · $143,590
- 8. Nurse Practitioners 170 jobs · $125,780
- 9. Medical and Health Services Managers 170 jobs · $101,380
- 10. Physicians, All Other 130 jobs · $369,300
- 11. Sales Managers 130 jobs · $120,730
- 12. Computer Systems Analysts 130 jobs · $103,800
- 13. Management Analysts 110 jobs · $111,090
- 14. Computer and Information Systems Managers 90 jobs · $139,430
- 15. Facilities Managers 90 jobs · $110,720
- 16. Administrative Services Managers 80 jobs · $134,150
- 17. Lawyers 70 jobs · $105,790
- 18. Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 60 jobs · $126,110
Occupations Tracked
187
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$60,537
employment-weighted, 186 complete rows
Top Salary
$369,300
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
93.0
7% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Columbus, IN
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Physicians, All Other | $369,300 |
| 2 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $180,830 |
| 3 | Marketing Managers | $166,610 |
| 4 | Managers, All Other | $147,910 |
| 5 | Financial Managers | $143,590 |
| 6 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $139,430 |
| 7 | Pharmacists | $137,330 |
| 8 | Administrative Services Managers | $134,150 |
| 9 | Industrial Production Managers | $130,490 |
| 10 | Mechanical Engineers | $127,700 |
| 11 | Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products | $126,110 |
| 12 | Nurse Practitioners | $125,780 |
| 13 | Physician Assistants | $124,460 |
| 14 | Human Resources Managers | $124,230 |
| 15 | Sales Managers | $120,730 |
| 16 | General and Operations Managers | $112,760 |
| 17 | Management Analysts | $111,090 |
| 18 | Facilities Managers | $110,720 |
| 19 | Chemical Engineers | $109,190 |
| 20 | Lawyers | $105,790 |
| 21 | Software Developers | $104,880 |
| 22 | Computer Systems Analysts | $103,800 |
| 23 | Construction Managers | $102,020 |
| 24 | Medical and Health Services Managers | $101,380 |
| 25 | Logisticians | $100,720 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Columbus, IN
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $23,640 |
| Bartenders | $23,700 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $26,340 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $26,360 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $27,670 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $28,290 |
| Animal Caretakers | $28,960 |
| Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers | $29,140 |
| Cashiers | $29,280 |
| Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment | $29,350 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in IN
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 IN. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($60,537 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.