San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Salaries
Local wages against a high BEA price level (RPP 110.4) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA moved from $82,470 in May 2024 to $84,050 in May 2025 (+1.9%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA sits -1.2 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.
Registered Nurses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Registered Nurses publishes $216,740 here versus $97,550 nationally (+122.2%; 22,930metro-area jobs). Next is Web and Digital Interface Designers at $201,260 locally versus $104,000 nationally (+93.5%).
- Registered Nurses$216,740 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA sits 122.2% above the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (22,930 published local jobs).
- Web and Digital Interface Designers$201,260 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA sits 93.5% above the national Web and Digital Interface Designers median of $104,000 (4,400 published local jobs).
- Lawyers$301,320 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA sits 88.7% above the national Lawyers median of $159,670 (6,040 published local jobs).
- Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists$141,960 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA sits 80.2% above the national Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists median of $78,760 (12,710 published local jobs).
Registered Nurses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 41940 · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA $119K mean
MEAN-MEGA · RPP-ELEV · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-HEAVY · TREND-INLINE · NEAR-LOWER · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MEGA #1/528
- RPP-ELEV 110.4
- OCC-MOST 574 occs
- TOP-LEAD Ophthalmologis… · $701K
- EMP-HEAVY Software Dev…
- TREND-INLINE -1.2 pp
- NEAR-LOWER San Francisco-Oa…
- BOOK-FULL 563 rows · May 2025
Read with San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA ($19,081 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 Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Cl…
Largest San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA payrolls before the high-cost adjustment
Software Developers and Registered Nurses lead published employment inside San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Software Developers 87,350 jobs · $213,110
- 2. Registered Nurses 22,930 jobs · $216,740
- 3. Computer and Information Systems Managers 19,070 jobs · $291,660
- 4. Managers, All Other 13,740 jobs · $217,280
- 5. Financial Managers 7,970 jobs · $225,280
- 6. Computer Hardware Engineers 7,940 jobs · $209,860
- 7. Marketing Managers 7,300 jobs · $231,370
- 8. Lawyers 6,040 jobs · $301,320
- 9. Architectural and Engineering Managers 5,130 jobs · $234,590
- 10. Human Resources Managers 2,800 jobs · $220,460
- 11. Computer and Information Research Scientists 2,210 jobs · $218,420
- 12. Nurse Practitioners 1,580 jobs · $231,560
- 13. Natural Sciences Managers 1,160 jobs · $263,810
- 14. Family Medicine Physicians 1,120 jobs · $351,760
- 15. Physician Assistants 1,030 jobs · $223,640
- 16. Public Relations Managers 980 jobs · $213,510
- 17. Training and Development Managers 880 jobs · $230,020
- 18. Compensation and Benefits Managers 320 jobs · $215,180
Occupations Tracked
574
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$118,789
employment-weighted, 563 complete rows
Top Salary
$700,850
Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric
Cost of Living
110.4
10% above US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Lowest Paying Jobs in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $37,640 |
| Engine and Other Machine Assemblers | $40,650 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $41,710 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $41,920 |
| Bartenders | $42,270 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $42,400 |
| Packers and Packagers, Hand | $42,410 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $42,460 |
| Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers | $42,750 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $42,850 |
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 ($118,789 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 Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Cl…'s high price level? ▼
What is the highest paying job in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA? ▼
What jobs pay the least in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA? ▼
Which federal tables feed San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Cl…'s wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA wage figures in a real decision
- Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric leads published medians in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA at $700,850/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $118,789 adjusts to about $107,576 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 110.4. 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.