Wilmington, NC Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Wilmington, NC - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Wilmington, NC moved from $44,470 in May 2024 to $45,800 in May 2025 (+3.0%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Wilmington, NC sits -0.1 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Registered Nurses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Wilmington, NC
Registered Nurses publishes $80,970 here versus $97,550 nationally (-17.0%; 5,040metro-area jobs). Next is Customer Service Representatives at $38,100 locally versus $44,770 nationally (-14.9%).
- Registered Nurses$80,970 in Wilmington, NC sits 17.0% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (5,040 published local jobs).
- Customer Service Representatives$38,100 in Wilmington, NC sits 14.9% below the national Customer Service Representatives median of $44,770 (2,850 published local jobs).
- General and Operations Managers$90,270 in Wilmington, NC sits 14.7% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (2,690 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$28,520 in Wilmington, NC sits 13.3% below the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (4,860 published local jobs).
Registered Nurses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Wilmington, NC; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 48900 · Wilmington, NC $57K mean
MEAN-LOW · RPP-MID · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-LOW #278/528
- RPP-MID 96.4
- OCC-MOST 411 occs
- TOP-LEAD Chief Executives · $299K
- EMP-MIX Sales Managers
- TREND-INLINE -0.1 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Lima, OH
- BOOK-FULL 403 rows · May 2025
Read with Lima, OH (+$5 on published-row mean) · Highest-paying careers
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 Wilmington, NC
Employment scale inside Wilmington, NC's top-pay list
Sales Managers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Wilmington, NC's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Sales Managers 520 jobs · $133,400
- 2. Financial Managers 510 jobs · $152,150
- 3. Pharmacists 480 jobs · $151,790
- 4. Physicians, All Other 450 jobs · $252,960
- 5. Computer and Information Systems Managers 420 jobs · $160,980
- 6. Natural Sciences Managers 330 jobs · $166,910
- 7. Physician Assistants 270 jobs · $131,270
- 8. Industrial Production Managers 270 jobs · $130,690
- 9. Information Security Analysts 230 jobs · $145,170
- 10. Dentists, General 220 jobs · $185,720
- 11. Architectural and Engineering Managers 190 jobs · $169,810
- 12. Veterinarians 190 jobs · $131,670
- 13. Business Teachers, Postsecondary 170 jobs · $187,380
- 14. Marketing Managers 170 jobs · $153,860
- 15. Nurse Anesthetists 150 jobs · $218,830
- 16. Human Resources Managers 130 jobs · $140,960
- 17. Optometrists 120 jobs · $163,800
- 18. Nuclear Engineers 80 jobs · $129,710
Occupations Tracked
411
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$57,410
employment-weighted, 403 complete rows
Top Salary
$298,730
Chief Executives
Cost of Living
96.4
4% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Wilmington, NC
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chief Executives | $298,730 |
| 2 | Physicians, All Other | $252,960 |
| 3 | Nurse Anesthetists | $218,830 |
| 4 | Family Medicine Physicians | $207,000 |
| 5 | Business Teachers, Postsecondary | $187,380 |
| 6 | Dentists, General | $185,720 |
| 7 | Commercial Pilots | $172,320 |
| 8 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $169,810 |
| 9 | Natural Sciences Managers | $166,910 |
| 10 | Optometrists | $163,800 |
| 11 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $160,980 |
| 12 | Marketing Managers | $153,860 |
| 13 | Financial Managers | $152,150 |
| 14 | Pharmacists | $151,790 |
| 15 | Purchasing Managers | $145,730 |
| 16 | Information Security Analysts | $145,170 |
| 17 | Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary | $144,160 |
| 18 | Human Resources Managers | $140,960 |
| 19 | Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary | $139,410 |
| 20 | Sales Managers | $133,400 |
| 21 | Veterinarians | $131,670 |
| 22 | Database Architects | $131,470 |
| 23 | Physician Assistants | $131,270 |
| 24 | Industrial Production Managers | $130,690 |
| 25 | Nuclear Engineers | $129,710 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Wilmington, NC
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $21,830 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $27,070 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $27,320 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $27,460 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $27,500 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $28,250 |
| Sewing Machine Operators | $28,510 |
| Cashiers | $28,520 |
| Funeral Attendants | $28,650 |
| Childcare Workers | $29,040 |
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 ($57,410 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 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.