San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Salaries
Local wages against a high BEA price level (RPP 111.9) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA moved from $56,580 in May 2024 to $58,690 in May 2025 (+3.7%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA sits +0.6 pp ahead of 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.
Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary publishes $163,200 here versus $105,870 nationally (+54.2%; 2,370metro-area jobs). Next is Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education at $97,000 locally versus $63,970 nationally (+51.6%).
- Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary$163,200 in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA sits 54.2% above the national Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary median of $105,870 (2,370 published local jobs).
- Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education$97,000 in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA sits 51.6% above the national Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education median of $63,970 (11,340 published local jobs).
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$110,400 in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA sits 44.9% above the national Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers median of $76,210 (4,950 published local jobs).
- Substitute Teachers, Short-Term$59,860 in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA sits 43.7% above the national Substitute Teachers, Short-Term median of $41,670 (9,480 published local jobs).
Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 41740 · San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA $79K mean
MEAN-MEGA · RPP-ELEV · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MEGA #12/528
- RPP-ELEV 111.9
- OCC-MOST 671 occs
- TOP-LEAD Cardiologists · $494K
- EMP-MIX Managers, Al…
- TREND-INLINE +0.6 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Portland-Vancouv…
- BOOK-FULL 656 rows · May 2025
Read with Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA ($1,886 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 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carls…
Largest San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA payrolls before the high-cost adjustment
Managers, All Other and Lawyers lead published employment inside San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Managers, All Other 9,370 jobs · $169,240
- 2. Lawyers 8,020 jobs · $178,220
- 3. Financial Managers 7,350 jobs · $174,210
- 4. Computer and Information Systems Managers 7,250 jobs · $206,740
- 5. Physicians, All Other 4,200 jobs · $323,050
- 6. Marketing Managers 3,790 jobs · $174,840
- 7. Computer Hardware Engineers 3,330 jobs · $174,440
- 8. Architectural and Engineering Managers 3,270 jobs · $202,810
- 9. Natural Sciences Managers 2,890 jobs · $207,200
- 10. Chief Executives 2,710 jobs · $238,440
- 11. Family Medicine Physicians 1,360 jobs · $295,530
- 12. Pediatricians, General 630 jobs · $262,650
- 13. Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers 340 jobs · $321,950
- 14. Psychiatrists 310 jobs · $335,620
- 15. Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric 230 jobs · $204,290
- 16. Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary 150 jobs · $168,410
- 17. Radiation Therapists 140 jobs · $171,500
- 18. Obstetricians and Gynecologists 100 jobs · $293,400
Occupations Tracked
671
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$78,524
employment-weighted, 656 complete rows
Top Salary
$493,670
Cardiologists
Cost of Living
111.9
12% above US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiologists | $493,670 |
| 2 | Psychiatrists | $335,620 |
| 3 | Physicians, Pathologists | $333,330 |
| 4 | Physicians, All Other | $323,050 |
| 5 | Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers | $321,950 |
| 6 | Family Medicine Physicians | $295,530 |
| 7 | Obstetricians and Gynecologists | $293,400 |
| 8 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $282,200 |
| 9 | Pediatricians, General | $262,650 |
| 10 | Chief Executives | $238,440 |
| 11 | Podiatrists | $235,390 |
| 12 | Dermatologists | $233,370 |
| 13 | Natural Sciences Managers | $207,200 |
| 14 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $206,740 |
| 15 | Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric | $204,290 |
| 16 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $202,810 |
| 17 | Nurse Midwives | $181,450 |
| 18 | Lawyers | $178,220 |
| 19 | Marketing Managers | $174,840 |
| 20 | Computer Hardware Engineers | $174,440 |
| 21 | Financial Managers | $174,210 |
| 22 | Power Distributors and Dispatchers | $173,120 |
| 23 | Radiation Therapists | $171,500 |
| 24 | Managers, All Other | $169,240 |
| 25 | Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary | $168,410 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $35,300 |
| Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers | $35,470 |
| Gambling Dealers | $35,840 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $35,850 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $35,960 |
| Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians | $36,030 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $36,140 |
| Bartenders | $36,260 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $36,330 |
| Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers, All Other | $36,510 |
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 ($78,524 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
How do published wages sit against San Diego-Chula Vista-Carls…'s high price level? ▼
What is the highest paying job in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA? ▼
What jobs pay the least in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA? ▼
Which federal tables feed San Diego-Chula Vista-Carls…'s wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA wage figures in a real decision
- Cardiologists leads published medians in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA at $493,670/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Cardiologists
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $78,524 adjusts to about $70,182 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 111.9. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for CA 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.