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
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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 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.