Merced, CA Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Merced, CA - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Merced, CA moved from $45,930 in May 2024 to $47,220 in May 2025 (+2.8%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Merced, CA sits -0.3 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Fast Food and Counter Workers shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Merced, CA
Fast Food and Counter Workers publishes $38,200 here versus $31,200 nationally (+22.4%; 2,500metro-area jobs). Next is Cashiers at $35,340 locally versus $32,880 nationally (+7.5%).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$38,200 in Merced, CA sits 22.4% above the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (2,500 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$35,340 in Merced, CA sits 7.5% above the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (2,250 published local jobs).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$34,320 in Merced, CA sits 4.1% below the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (4,990 published local jobs).
- Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse$36,350 in Merced, CA sits 1.9% above the national Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse median of $35,660 (3,820 published local jobs).
Fast Food and Counter Workers and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Merced, CA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 32900 · Merced, CA $60K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-MID · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-MOST
- MEAN-MID #188/528
- RPP-MID 98.3
- OCC-MID 272 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $273K
- EMP-MIX Registered N…
- TREND-INLINE -0.3 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Yakima, WA
- BOOK-MOST 272 rows · May 2025
Read with Yakima, WA ($35 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 Merced, CA
Employment scale inside Merced, CA's top-pay list
Registered Nurses and Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary lead published employment inside Merced, CA's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Registered Nurses 1,050 jobs · $131,620
- 2. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 260 jobs · $157,180
- 3. Financial Managers 210 jobs · $134,170
- 4. Managers, All Other 150 jobs · $128,190
- 5. Industrial Production Managers 130 jobs · $123,590
- 6. Pharmacists 120 jobs · $154,870
- 7. Lawyers 120 jobs · $139,010
- 8. Chief Executives 100 jobs · $181,660
- 9. Nurse Practitioners 100 jobs · $158,750
- 10. First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives 100 jobs · $121,720
- 11. Construction Managers 100 jobs · $119,150
- 12. Physicians, All Other 90 jobs · $273,110
- 13. School Psychologists 90 jobs · $133,230
- 14. Computer and Information Systems Managers 80 jobs · $167,150
- 15. Software Developers 80 jobs · $132,120
- 16. Facilities Managers 80 jobs · $121,730
- 17. Human Resources Managers 70 jobs · $153,210
- 18. Physical Therapists 60 jobs · $126,000
Occupations Tracked
272
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$60,468
employment-weighted, 272 complete rows
Top Salary
$273,110
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
98.3
2% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Merced, CA
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Physicians, All Other | $273,110 |
| 2 | Family Medicine Physicians | $270,880 |
| 3 | Chief Executives | $181,660 |
| 4 | Dentists, General | $170,200 |
| 5 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $167,150 |
| 6 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | $165,620 |
| 7 | Physician Assistants | $164,080 |
| 8 | Nurse Practitioners | $158,750 |
| 9 | Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary | $157,180 |
| 10 | Pharmacists | $154,870 |
| 11 | Human Resources Managers | $153,210 |
| 12 | Marketing Managers | $148,670 |
| 13 | Lawyers | $139,010 |
| 14 | Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary | $138,890 |
| 15 | Financial Managers | $134,170 |
| 16 | School Psychologists | $133,230 |
| 17 | Software Developers | $132,120 |
| 18 | Registered Nurses | $131,620 |
| 19 | Education Administrators, All Other | $128,210 |
| 20 | Managers, All Other | $128,190 |
| 21 | Physical Therapists | $126,000 |
| 22 | Industrial Production Managers | $123,590 |
| 23 | Facilities Managers | $121,730 |
| 24 | First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives | $121,720 |
| 25 | Construction Managers | $119,150 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Merced, CA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Packers and Packagers, Hand | $34,320 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $34,320 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $34,320 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $34,320 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Personal Service Workers | $34,630 |
| Bartenders | $34,680 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $34,690 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $34,720 |
| Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers | $35,070 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $35,090 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in CA
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 CA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($60,468 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.