Winston-Salem, NC Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Winston-Salem, NC - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Winston-Salem, NC moved from $45,050 in May 2024 to $46,380 in May 2025 (+3.0%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Winston-Salem, NC sits -0.1 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Substitute Teachers, Short-Term shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Winston-Salem, NC
Substitute Teachers, Short-Term publishes $31,470 here versus $41,670 nationally (-24.5%; 2,370metro-area jobs). Next is Waiters and Waitresses at $29,550 locally versus $35,230 nationally (-16.1%).
- Substitute Teachers, Short-Term$31,470 in Winston-Salem, NC sits 24.5% below the national Substitute Teachers, Short-Term median of $41,670 (2,370 published local jobs).
- Waiters and Waitresses$29,550 in Winston-Salem, NC sits 16.1% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (3,940 published local jobs).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$30,400 in Winston-Salem, NC sits 15.1% below the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (3,480 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$30,100 in Winston-Salem, NC sits 15.0% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (6,790 published local jobs).
Substitute Teachers, Short-Term and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Winston-Salem, NC; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 49180 · Winston-Salem, NC $58K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #253/528
- RPP-LOW 92.0
- OCC-MOST 467 occs
- TOP-LEAD Emergency Medi… · $319K
- EMP-MIX Pharmacists
- TREND-INLINE -0.1 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Lawrence, KS
- BOOK-FULL 449 rows · May 2025
Read with Lawrence, KS (+$12 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 Winston-Salem, NC
Employment scale inside Winston-Salem, NC's top-pay list
Pharmacists and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Winston-Salem, NC's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Pharmacists 1,010 jobs · $135,710
- 2. Financial Managers 980 jobs · $155,030
- 3. Nurse Practitioners 750 jobs · $130,840
- 4. Physician Assistants 730 jobs · $130,730
- 5. Computer and Information Systems Managers 700 jobs · $160,900
- 6. Sales Managers 690 jobs · $132,550
- 7. Nurse Anesthetists 440 jobs · $216,140
- 8. Marketing Managers 440 jobs · $160,570
- 9. Human Resources Managers 320 jobs · $137,110
- 10. Information Security Analysts 280 jobs · $129,980
- 11. Dentists, General 230 jobs · $168,700
- 12. Natural Sciences Managers 220 jobs · $148,710
- 13. Architectural and Engineering Managers 200 jobs · $155,200
- 14. Financial Risk Specialists 180 jobs · $131,630
- 15. Public Relations Managers 100 jobs · $140,680
- 16. General Internal Medicine Physicians 80 jobs · $293,840
- 17. Chief Executives 80 jobs · $273,710
- 18. Optometrists 70 jobs · $162,540
Occupations Tracked
467
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$58,267
employment-weighted, 449 complete rows
Top Salary
$319,170
Emergency Medicine Physicians
Cost of Living
92.0
8% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Winston-Salem, NC
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emergency Medicine Physicians | $319,170 |
| 2 | Radiologists | $317,250 |
| 3 | Family Medicine Physicians | $309,990 |
| 4 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $293,840 |
| 5 | Chief Executives | $273,710 |
| 6 | Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric | $258,750 |
| 7 | Nurse Anesthetists | $216,140 |
| 8 | Dentists, General | $168,700 |
| 9 | Optometrists | $162,540 |
| 10 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $160,900 |
| 11 | Marketing Managers | $160,570 |
| 12 | Fundraising Managers | $158,460 |
| 13 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $155,200 |
| 14 | Financial Managers | $155,030 |
| 15 | Natural Sciences Managers | $148,710 |
| 16 | Public Relations Managers | $140,680 |
| 17 | Commercial Pilots | $137,180 |
| 18 | Human Resources Managers | $137,110 |
| 19 | Pharmacists | $135,710 |
| 20 | Sales Managers | $132,550 |
| 21 | Financial Risk Specialists | $131,630 |
| 22 | Nurse Practitioners | $130,840 |
| 23 | Physician Assistants | $130,730 |
| 24 | Information Security Analysts | $129,980 |
| 25 | Compensation and Benefits Managers | $129,580 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Winston-Salem, NC
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Information and Record Clerks, All Other | $23,750 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $26,300 |
| Driver/Sales Workers | $26,380 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $27,100 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $27,250 |
| Motor Vehicle Operators, All Other | $27,260 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $27,280 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $27,930 |
| Cashiers | $28,130 |
| Parking Attendants | $28,310 |
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 ($58,267 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.