Columbus, OH Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Columbus, OH - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Columbus, OH moved from $49,510 in May 2024 to $51,340 in May 2025 (+3.7%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Columbus, OH sits +0.6 pp ahead of that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Columbus, OH
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers publishes $100,890 here versus $76,210 nationally (+32.4%; 5,190metro-area jobs). Next is Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators at $78,950 locally versus $59,850 nationally (+31.9%).
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$100,890 in Columbus, OH sits 32.4% above the national Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers median of $76,210 (5,190 published local jobs).
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators$78,950 in Columbus, OH sits 31.9% above the national Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators median of $59,850 (3,290 published local jobs).
- Construction Laborers$60,540 in Columbus, OH sits 28.5% above the national Construction Laborers median of $47,120 (5,590 published local jobs).
- Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education$78,150 in Columbus, OH sits 22.2% above the national Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education median of $63,970 (9,950 published local jobs).
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Columbus, OH; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 18140 · Columbus, OH $67K mean
MEAN-HIGH · RPP-MID · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-HIGH #78/528
- RPP-MID 95.5
- OCC-MOST 610 occs
- TOP-LEAD Surgeons, All… · $609K
- EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
- TREND-INLINE +0.6 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Palm Bay-Melbour…
- BOOK-FULL 593 rows · May 2025
Read with Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL (+$96 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, OH
Employment scale inside Columbus, OH's top-pay list
Financial Managers and Lawyers lead published employment inside Columbus, OH's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Financial Managers 5,750 jobs · $145,630
- 2. Lawyers 4,960 jobs · $137,810
- 3. Sales Managers 4,460 jobs · $138,580
- 4. Computer and Information Systems Managers 4,330 jobs · $167,630
- 5. Physicians, All Other 3,830 jobs · $214,760
- 6. Commercial Pilots 1,410 jobs · $175,690
- 7. Chief Executives 1,160 jobs · $162,910
- 8. Physician Assistants 1,140 jobs · $137,550
- 9. Dentists, General 780 jobs · $166,180
- 10. Purchasing Managers 560 jobs · $141,490
- 11. Obstetricians and Gynecologists 490 jobs · $179,810
- 12. Database Architects 470 jobs · $135,840
- 13. Nurse Anesthetists 450 jobs · $231,810
- 14. Natural Sciences Managers 300 jobs · $138,110
- 15. Surgeons, All Other 180 jobs · $609,450
- 16. Psychiatrists 120 jobs · $220,940
- 17. Compensation and Benefits Managers 80 jobs · $147,100
- 18. Physicians, Pathologists 70 jobs · $285,280
Occupations Tracked
610
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$66,754
employment-weighted, 593 complete rows
Top Salary
$609,450
Surgeons, All Other
Cost of Living
95.5
5% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Columbus, OH
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surgeons, All Other | $609,450 |
| 2 | Anesthesiologists | $441,230 |
| 3 | Emergency Medicine Physicians | $331,600 |
| 4 | Physicians, Pathologists | $285,280 |
| 5 | Radiologists | $269,430 |
| 6 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $249,990 |
| 7 | Nurse Anesthetists | $231,810 |
| 8 | Psychiatrists | $220,940 |
| 9 | Physicians, All Other | $214,760 |
| 10 | Obstetricians and Gynecologists | $179,810 |
| 11 | Commercial Pilots | $175,690 |
| 12 | Physicists | $170,400 |
| 13 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $167,630 |
| 14 | Dentists, General | $166,180 |
| 15 | Chief Executives | $162,910 |
| 16 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $162,770 |
| 17 | Compensation and Benefits Managers | $147,100 |
| 18 | Financial Managers | $145,630 |
| 19 | Medical Dosimetrists | $144,370 |
| 20 | Purchasing Managers | $141,490 |
| 21 | Sales Managers | $138,580 |
| 22 | Natural Sciences Managers | $138,110 |
| 23 | Lawyers | $137,810 |
| 24 | Physician Assistants | $137,550 |
| 25 | Database Architects | $135,840 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Columbus, OH
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Cooks, Fast Food | $25,290 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $27,080 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $27,540 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $27,650 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $28,350 |
| Office and Administrative Support Workers, All Other | $28,450 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $28,670 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | $29,240 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $29,260 |
| Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials | $29,870 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in OH
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 OH. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($66,754 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.