Erie, PA Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 91.0) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Erie, PA moved from $43,410 in May 2024 to $44,460 in May 2025 (+2.4%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Erie, PA sits -0.7 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Home Health and Personal Care Aides shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Erie, PA
Home Health and Personal Care Aides publishes $27,860 here versus $35,800 nationally (-22.2%; 6,640metro-area jobs). Next is Retail Salespersons at $28,610 locally versus $35,410 nationally (-19.2%).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$27,860 in Erie, PA sits 22.2% below the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (6,640 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$28,610 in Erie, PA sits 19.2% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (3,340 published local jobs).
- Registered Nurses$80,000 in Erie, PA sits 18.0% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (3,060 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$89,840 in Erie, PA sits 15.1% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (2,840 published local jobs).
Home Health and Personal Care Aides and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Erie, PA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 21500 · Erie, PA $54K mean
MEAN-LOW · RPP-LOW · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-LOW #378/528
- RPP-LOW 91.0
- OCC-MID 345 occs
- TOP-LEAD Family Medicin… · $278K
- EMP-MIX Mechanical E…
- TREND-INLINE -0.7 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Northwest Virgin…
- BOOK-FULL 340 rows · May 2025
Read with Northwest Virginia nonmetropolitan area (+$19 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 Erie, PA
Where Erie, PA already employs the upper wage tier
Mechanical Engineers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Erie, PA's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Mechanical Engineers 590 jobs · $106,890
- 2. Financial Managers 430 jobs · $121,550
- 3. Computer and Information Systems Managers 300 jobs · $131,610
- 4. Lawyers 260 jobs · $128,130
- 5. Nurse Practitioners 260 jobs · $122,100
- 6. Sales Managers 260 jobs · $118,050
- 7. Managers, All Other 230 jobs · $107,970
- 8. Pharmacists 220 jobs · $128,360
- 9. Electrical Engineers 200 jobs · $109,260
- 10. Architectural and Engineering Managers 180 jobs · $149,380
- 11. Physician Assistants 170 jobs · $111,260
- 12. Marketing Managers 130 jobs · $120,090
- 13. Human Resources Managers 130 jobs · $104,120
- 14. Business Teachers, Postsecondary 120 jobs · $106,300
- 15. Education Administrators, Postsecondary 110 jobs · $105,910
- 16. Chief Executives 100 jobs · $170,340
- 17. Computer Occupations, All Other 100 jobs · $104,800
- 18. Dentists, General 80 jobs · $137,530
Occupations Tracked
345
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$54,263
employment-weighted, 340 complete rows
Top Salary
$277,880
Family Medicine Physicians
Cost of Living
91.0
9% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Erie, PA, 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 | Mechanical Engineers | $106,890 |
| 2 | Financial Managers | $121,550 |
| 3 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $131,610 |
| 4 | Lawyers | $128,130 |
| 5 | Nurse Practitioners | $122,100 |
| 6 | Sales Managers | $118,050 |
| 7 | Managers, All Other | $107,970 |
| 8 | Pharmacists | $128,360 |
| 9 | Electrical Engineers | $109,260 |
| 10 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $149,380 |
| 11 | Physician Assistants | $111,260 |
| 12 | Marketing Managers | $120,090 |
| 13 | Human Resources Managers | $104,120 |
| 14 | Business Teachers, Postsecondary | $106,300 |
| 15 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | $105,910 |
| 16 | Chief Executives | $170,340 |
| 17 | Computer Occupations, All Other | $104,800 |
| 18 | Dentists, General | $137,530 |
| 19 | Nurse Anesthetists | $212,120 |
| 20 | Veterinarians | $123,670 |
| 21 | Labor Relations Specialists | $102,870 |
| 22 | Family Medicine Physicians | $277,880 |
| 23 | Purchasing Managers | $135,580 |
| 24 | Optometrists | $134,230 |
| 25 | Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary | $105,810 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Erie, PA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $21,550 |
| Cooks, Short Order | $22,450 |
| Bartenders | $22,730 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | $23,390 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $23,450 |
| Dishwashers | $26,300 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $26,430 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $26,540 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $27,060 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $27,860 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in PA
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 PA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($54,263 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.