Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area Salaries

BLS nonmetropolitan reporting area wages for Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area (May 2025)

General and Operations Managers shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area

General and Operations Managers publishes $61,300 here versus $105,770 nationally (-42.0%; 3,160metro-area jobs). Next is Waiters and Waitresses at $29,080 locally versus $35,230 nationally (-17.5%).

  1. General and Operations Managers$61,300 in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area sits 42.0% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (3,160 published local jobs).
  2. Waiters and Waitresses$29,080 in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area sits 17.5% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (2,000 published local jobs).
  3. Retail Salespersons$30,530 in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area sits 13.8% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (2,850 published local jobs).
  4. Cashiers$29,940 in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area sits 8.9% below the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (2,730 published local jobs).

General and Operations Managers and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.

BLS OEWS metro wage desk

MSA 2900004 · Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area $47K mean

MEAN-TRACE · RPP-UNK · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-UNK · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-MOST

  • MEAN-TRACE #510/528
  • RPP-UNK RPP n/a
  • OCC-MID 259 occs
  • TOP-LEAD Dentists, Gene… · $215K
  • EMP-MIX Education Ad…
  • TREND-UNK Pay chg n/a
  • PHOTO-FINISH North Arkansas n…
  • BOOK-MOST 254 rows · May 2025

Read with North Arkansas nonmetropolitan area (+$6 on published-row mean) · Understanding BLS wage data

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 Southwest Missouri nonmetro…

Guayama, PR · lowest mean: $32KGuayama, PR · lowest mean$32KSouthwest Missouri n… · this MSA: $47KSouthwest Missouri n… · this…$47KNorth Arkansas nonme… · near: $47KNorth Arkansas nonme… · near$47KWest Arkansas nonmet… · near: $47KWest Arkansas nonmet… · near$47KNortheast Louisiana… · near: $47KNortheast Louisiana… · near$47KNortheast Alabama no… · near: $48KNortheast Alabama no… · near$48KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean: $119KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · high…$119K
Read the chart as text
Label Value
Guayama, PR · lowest mean $32K
Southwest Missouri n… · this MSA $47K
North Arkansas nonme… · near $47K
West Arkansas nonmet… · near $47K
Northeast Louisiana… · near $47K
Northeast Alabama no… · near $48K
San Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean $119K

Largest published OEWS rows in this nonmetropolitan area

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary and Nurse Practitioners lead published employment inside Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.

  1. 1. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 260 jobs · $88,160
  2. 2. Nurse Practitioners 190 jobs · $110,860
  3. 3. Medical and Health Services Managers 190 jobs · $94,110
  4. 4. Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers 180 jobs · $95,670
  5. 5. Managers, All Other 180 jobs · $81,890
  6. 6. Sales Managers 160 jobs · $85,230
  7. 7. Pharmacists 130 jobs · $133,560
  8. 8. Financial Managers 130 jobs · $115,550
  9. 9. Industrial Engineers 120 jobs · $96,300
  10. 10. Software Developers 100 jobs · $106,150
  11. 11. Lawyers 100 jobs · $84,200
  12. 12. Computer and Information Systems Managers 90 jobs · $138,870
  13. 13. Marketing Managers 90 jobs · $102,580
  14. 14. Industrial Production Managers 90 jobs · $99,220
  15. 15. Chief Executives 70 jobs · $129,620
  16. 16. Physical Therapists 70 jobs · $90,160
  17. 17. Respiratory Therapists 70 jobs · $80,000
  18. 18. Veterinarians 60 jobs · $110,590

Occupations Tracked

259

with wage data

Published-Row Mean

$47,444

employment-weighted, 254 complete rows

Top Salary

$215,230

Dentists, General

Top-pay occupations in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area, 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 Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary $88,160
2 Nurse Practitioners $110,860
3 Medical and Health Services Managers $94,110
4 Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers $95,670
5 Managers, All Other $81,890
6 Sales Managers $85,230
7 Pharmacists $133,560
8 Financial Managers $115,550
9 Industrial Engineers $96,300
10 Software Developers $106,150
11 Lawyers $84,200
12 Computer and Information Systems Managers $138,870
13 Marketing Managers $102,580
14 Industrial Production Managers $99,220
15 Chief Executives $129,620
16 Physical Therapists $90,160
17 Respiratory Therapists $80,000
18 Veterinarians $110,590
19 Construction Managers $92,640
20 Dental Hygienists $84,080
21 Physician Assistants $141,620
22 Computer Systems Analysts $83,730
23 Facilities Managers $82,510
24 Dentists, General $215,230
25 Human Resources Managers $96,010

Lowest Paying Jobs in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area

Other BLS Wage Areas in MO

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 MO. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($47,444 here) and summed published employment.

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 average wage does BLS publish for this nonmetropolitan area?
BLS does not publish a single All Occupations mean for every nonmetropolitan reporting area on this page. WageDex's employment-weighted mean of the 254 published occupation means with employment estimates is $47,444/year (OEWS May 2025). That figure covers only occupations BLS published for this local area — 259 rows carry a median here. Averaging the 25 highest medians alone yields $105,542, which describes the displayed top tier only.
What is the highest paying job in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area?
The highest paying occupation in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area is Dentists, General with a median salary of $215,230/year. The second highest is Physician Assistants at $141,620/year.
What jobs pay the least in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area?
The lowest paying occupation in Southwest Missouri nonmetropolitan area is Electrical, Electronic, and Electromechanical Assemblers, Except Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers with a median salary of $28,600/year according to BLS data.
Where do these nonmetropolitan wage rows come from?
Every occupation wage on this page is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 estimates for BLS nonmetropolitan reporting areas. OEWS surveys about 1.1 million establishments; nonmetro tables use BLS's balance-of-state geography, not a city MSA. WageDex does not invent missing occupations — only published rows appear.

Related federal data

Last updated: May 2025 (BLS OEWS annual release). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The local-area 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.

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