Madison, WI Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Madison, WI - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Madison, WI moved from $54,620 in May 2024 to $58,080 in May 2025 (+6.3%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Madison, WI sits +3.2 pp ahead of that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Bartenders shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Madison, WI
Bartenders publishes $23,210 here versus $34,340 nationally (-32.4%; 3,810metro-area jobs). Next is Construction Laborers at $57,000 locally versus $47,120 nationally (+21.0%).
- Bartenders$23,210 in Madison, WI sits 32.4% below the national Bartenders median of $34,340 (3,810 published local jobs).
- Construction Laborers$57,000 in Madison, WI sits 21.0% above the national Construction Laborers median of $47,120 (2,370 published local jobs).
- Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary$85,510 in Madison, WI sits 20.3% below the national Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary median of $107,310 (2,390 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$126,620 in Madison, WI sits 19.7% above the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (5,130 published local jobs).
Bartenders and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Madison, WI; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 31540 · Madison, WI $71K mean
MEAN-MEGA · RPP-MID · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-AHEAD · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MEGA #42/528
- RPP-MID 97.3
- OCC-MOST 534 occs
- TOP-LEAD Emergency Medi… · $340K
- EMP-MIX Computer and…
- TREND-AHEAD +3.2 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Salt Lake City-M…
- BOOK-FULL 523 rows · May 2025
Read with Salt Lake City-Murray, UT ($43 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 Madison, WI
Employment scale inside Madison, WI's top-pay list
Computer and Information Systems Managers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Madison, WI's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Computer and Information Systems Managers 2,540 jobs · $168,900
- 2. Financial Managers 2,320 jobs · $148,970
- 3. Sales Managers 1,660 jobs · $146,380
- 4. Pharmacists 1,120 jobs · $158,120
- 5. Marketing Managers 1,000 jobs · $138,270
- 6. Chief Executives 900 jobs · $217,010
- 7. Physicians, All Other 850 jobs · $301,940
- 8. Architectural and Engineering Managers 750 jobs · $160,700
- 9. Human Resources Managers 660 jobs · $140,680
- 10. Natural Sciences Managers 530 jobs · $136,990
- 11. Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary 340 jobs · $137,840
- 12. Computer Network Architects 340 jobs · $135,490
- 13. General Internal Medicine Physicians 270 jobs · $329,670
- 14. Dentists, General 270 jobs · $176,460
- 15. Business Teachers, Postsecondary 270 jobs · $137,060
- 16. Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary 210 jobs · $142,490
- 17. Emergency Medicine Physicians 170 jobs · $340,150
- 18. Database Architects 170 jobs · $155,160
Occupations Tracked
534
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$70,551
employment-weighted, 523 complete rows
Top Salary
$340,150
Emergency Medicine Physicians
Cost of Living
97.3
3% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Madison, WI
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emergency Medicine Physicians | $340,150 |
| 2 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $329,670 |
| 3 | Physicians, All Other | $301,940 |
| 4 | Psychiatrists | $296,230 |
| 5 | Family Medicine Physicians | $291,000 |
| 6 | Nurse Anesthetists | $283,980 |
| 7 | Obstetricians and Gynecologists | $227,650 |
| 8 | Chief Executives | $217,010 |
| 9 | Dentists, General | $176,460 |
| 10 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $168,900 |
| 11 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $160,700 |
| 12 | Pharmacists | $158,120 |
| 13 | Database Architects | $155,160 |
| 14 | Financial Managers | $148,970 |
| 15 | Sales Managers | $146,380 |
| 16 | Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary | $142,490 |
| 17 | Human Resources Managers | $140,680 |
| 18 | Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary | $140,660 |
| 19 | Marketing Managers | $138,270 |
| 20 | Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary | $137,840 |
| 21 | Business Teachers, Postsecondary | $137,060 |
| 22 | Natural Sciences Managers | $136,990 |
| 23 | Physicists | $136,450 |
| 24 | Computer Network Architects | $135,490 |
| 25 | Actuaries | $135,330 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Madison, WI
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Bartenders | $23,210 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $25,850 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $27,840 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | $28,110 |
| Cooks, Short Order | $28,650 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $28,710 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $29,000 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $29,640 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $29,820 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $30,830 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in WI
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 WI. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($70,551 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.