Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area Salaries
BLS nonmetropolitan reporting area wages for Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area (May 2025)
General and Operations Managers shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area
General and Operations Managers publishes $76,810 here versus $105,770 nationally (-27.4%; 3,360metro-area jobs). Next is Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary at $28,850 locally versus $36,780 nationally (-21.6%).
- General and Operations Managers$76,810 in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area sits 27.4% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (3,360 published local jobs).
- Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary$28,850 in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area sits 21.6% below the national Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary median of $36,780 (2,290 published local jobs).
- Cooks, Fast Food$24,260 in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area sits 21.5% below the national Cooks, Fast Food median of $30,890 (4,350 published local jobs).
- Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education$50,280 in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area sits 21.4% below the national Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education median of $63,970 (3,210 published local jobs).
General and Operations Managers and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 3700003 · Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area $52K mean
MEAN-TRACE · RPP-UNK · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-UNK · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-TRACE #453/528
- RPP-UNK RPP n/a
- OCC-MOST 472 occs
- TOP-LEAD Emergency Medi… · $420K
- EMP-MIX Software Dev…
- TREND-UNK Pay chg n/a
- PHOTO-FINISH El Paso, TX
- BOOK-FULL 465 rows · May 2025
Read with El Paso, TX ($34 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 Western North Carolina nonm…
Largest published OEWS rows in this nonmetropolitan area
Software Developers and Pharmacists lead published employment inside Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Software Developers 610 jobs · $124,010
- 2. Pharmacists 580 jobs · $132,130
- 3. Financial Managers 560 jobs · $122,480
- 4. Industrial Production Managers 560 jobs · $114,300
- 5. Physicians, All Other 490 jobs · $371,190
- 6. Computer and Information Systems Managers 420 jobs · $146,360
- 7. Nurse Practitioners 420 jobs · $123,770
- 8. Physician Assistants 340 jobs · $115,460
- 9. Dentists, General 200 jobs · $213,190
- 10. Marketing Managers 170 jobs · $146,610
- 11. Computer Network Architects 170 jobs · $124,000
- 12. Human Resources Managers 170 jobs · $118,150
- 13. Family Medicine Physicians 150 jobs · $187,660
- 14. Veterinarians 150 jobs · $119,320
- 15. Electrical Engineers 140 jobs · $118,870
- 16. Architectural and Engineering Managers 130 jobs · $153,290
- 17. Nurse Anesthetists 70 jobs · $270,400
- 18. Optometrists 70 jobs · $148,840
Occupations Tracked
472
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$51,535
employment-weighted, 465 complete rows
Top Salary
$420,440
Emergency Medicine Physicians
Top-pay occupations in Western North Carolina 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 | Software Developers | $124,010 |
| 2 | Pharmacists | $132,130 |
| 3 | Financial Managers | $122,480 |
| 4 | Industrial Production Managers | $114,300 |
| 5 | Physicians, All Other | $371,190 |
| 6 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $146,360 |
| 7 | Nurse Practitioners | $123,770 |
| 8 | Physician Assistants | $115,460 |
| 9 | Dentists, General | $213,190 |
| 10 | Marketing Managers | $146,610 |
| 11 | Computer Network Architects | $124,000 |
| 12 | Human Resources Managers | $118,150 |
| 13 | Family Medicine Physicians | $187,660 |
| 14 | Veterinarians | $119,320 |
| 15 | Electrical Engineers | $118,870 |
| 16 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $153,290 |
| 17 | Nurse Anesthetists | $270,400 |
| 18 | Optometrists | $148,840 |
| 19 | Purchasing Managers | $124,340 |
| 20 | Chief Executives | $203,790 |
| 21 | Fundraising Managers | $140,140 |
| 22 | Economics Teachers, Postsecondary | $116,150 |
| 23 | Database Architects | $118,570 |
| 24 | Psychiatrists | $155,400 |
| 25 | Emergency Medicine Physicians | $420,440 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Museum Technicians and Conservators | $22,660 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $24,260 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $25,170 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $26,130 |
| Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials | $26,540 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $26,900 |
| Food Servers, Nonrestaurant | $27,340 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $27,860 |
| Parts Salespersons | $28,160 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $28,370 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in NC
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 NC. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($51,535 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
What average wage does BLS publish for this nonmetropolitan area? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area? ▼
Where do these nonmetropolitan wage rows come from? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area wage figures in a real decision
- Emergency Medicine Physicians leads published medians in Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area at $420,440/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Emergency Medicine Physicians
- Western North Carolina nonmetropolitan area's employment-weighted published-row mean is $51,535 across 465 occupation rows with employment estimates. Understanding BLS data
- Compare this nonmetropolitan area against the statewide occupation table for NC 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 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.