Fayetteville, NC Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 92.0) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Fayetteville, NC moved from $44,600 in May 2024 to $45,620 in May 2025 (+2.3%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Fayetteville, NC sits -0.8 pp behind 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.
Cooks, Fast Food shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Fayetteville, NC
Cooks, Fast Food publishes $23,430 here versus $30,890 nationally (-24.2%; 3,890metro-area jobs). Next is Cashiers at $27,390 locally versus $32,880 nationally (-16.7%).
- Cooks, Fast Food$23,430 in Fayetteville, NC sits 24.2% below the national Cooks, Fast Food median of $30,890 (3,890 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$27,390 in Fayetteville, NC sits 16.7% below the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (3,400 published local jobs).
- Business Operations Specialists, All Other$95,620 in Fayetteville, NC sits 15.1% above the national Business Operations Specialists, All Other median of $83,050 (2,030 published local jobs).
- Registered Nurses$83,060 in Fayetteville, NC sits 14.9% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (3,430 published local jobs).
Cooks, Fast Food and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Fayetteville, NC; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 22180 · Fayetteville, NC $56K mean
MEAN-LOW · RPP-LOW · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-LOW #334/528
- RPP-LOW 92.0
- OCC-MID 328 occs
- TOP-LEAD Nurse Anesthet… · $332K
- EMP-MIX Medical and…
- TREND-INLINE -0.8 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Waterloo-Cedar F…
- BOOK-FULL 325 rows · May 2025
Read with Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA ($17 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 Fayetteville, NC
Where Fayetteville, NC already employs the upper wage tier
Medical and Health Services Managers and Managers, All Other lead published employment inside Fayetteville, NC's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Medical and Health Services Managers 710 jobs · $120,310
- 2. Managers, All Other 550 jobs · $132,180
- 3. Software Developers 420 jobs · $122,900
- 4. Education Administrators, All Other 420 jobs · $111,320
- 5. Pharmacists 400 jobs · $140,220
- 6. Computer and Information Systems Managers 260 jobs · $151,490
- 7. Financial Managers 250 jobs · $138,040
- 8. Physician Assistants 220 jobs · $134,300
- 9. Nurse Practitioners 210 jobs · $121,410
- 10. Dentists, General 110 jobs · $196,470
- 11. Industrial Production Managers 100 jobs · $112,680
- 12. Nurse Anesthetists 90 jobs · $331,760
- 13. Human Resources Managers 90 jobs · $128,540
- 14. Architectural and Engineering Managers 80 jobs · $159,730
- 15. Engineers, All Other 80 jobs · $125,980
- 16. Marketing Managers 70 jobs · $140,730
- 17. Veterinarians 60 jobs · $128,190
- 18. Media and Communication Equipment Workers, All Other 60 jobs · $114,130
Occupations Tracked
328
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$55,554
employment-weighted, 325 complete rows
Top Salary
$331,760
Nurse Anesthetists
Cost of Living
92.0
8% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Fayetteville, NC, 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 | Medical and Health Services Managers | $120,310 |
| 2 | Managers, All Other | $132,180 |
| 3 | Software Developers | $122,900 |
| 4 | Education Administrators, All Other | $111,320 |
| 5 | Pharmacists | $140,220 |
| 6 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $151,490 |
| 7 | Financial Managers | $138,040 |
| 8 | Physician Assistants | $134,300 |
| 9 | Nurse Practitioners | $121,410 |
| 10 | Dentists, General | $196,470 |
| 11 | Industrial Production Managers | $112,680 |
| 12 | Nurse Anesthetists | $331,760 |
| 13 | Human Resources Managers | $128,540 |
| 14 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $159,730 |
| 15 | Engineers, All Other | $125,980 |
| 16 | Marketing Managers | $140,730 |
| 17 | Veterinarians | $128,190 |
| 18 | Media and Communication Equipment Workers, All Other | $114,130 |
| 19 | Family Medicine Physicians | $204,470 |
| 20 | Natural Sciences Managers | $165,260 |
| 21 | Psychologists, All Other | $129,830 |
| 22 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $243,080 |
| 23 | Psychiatrists | $155,250 |
| 24 | Commercial Pilots | $128,170 |
| 25 | Purchasing Managers | $147,370 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Fayetteville, NC
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Driver/Sales Workers | $17,850 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $23,050 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $23,430 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $26,660 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $26,720 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $27,380 |
| Cashiers | $27,390 |
| Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse | $27,470 |
| Food Preparation Workers | $27,590 |
| Shuttle Drivers and Chauffeurs | $28,050 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in NC
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 NC. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($55,554 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 Fayetteville, NC wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Fayetteville, NC? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Fayetteville, NC? ▼
Which federal tables feed Fayetteville, NC's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Fayetteville, NC wage figures in a real decision
- Nurse Anesthetists leads published medians in Fayetteville, NC at $331,760/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Nurse Anesthetists
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $55,554 adjusts to about $60,399 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 92.0. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for NC 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.