Yakima, WA Salaries

Highest published occupation medians in Yakima, WA - BLS OEWS May 2025

Observed metro pay change

What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025

May 2024 → May 2025
  • BLS's published All Occupations median in Yakima, WA moved from $46,740 in May 2024 to $47,810 in May 2025 (+2.3%).
  • Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
  • Yakima, WA sits -0.8 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
F
Wage Scorecard
39/100
Yakima, WA

Based on wage level, year-over-year wage growth, and regional-price-parity-adjusted purchasing power from BLS and BEA sources, not job availability, industry mix, or day-to-day livability.

Wage Level C-
$47,810
All-occupation median annual wage (BLS OEWS)
Wage Growth F
+2.3%
Year-over-year change in median wage (BLS OEWS)
Real Purchasing Power F
$50,039
Median wage adjusted for regional price parity (RPP 95.5, BEA)

Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Yakima, WA

Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary publishes $47,380 here versus $36,780 nationally (+28.8%; 2,150metro-area jobs). Next is Home Health and Personal Care Aides at $44,490 locally versus $35,800 nationally (+24.3%).

  1. Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary$47,380 in Yakima, WA sits 28.8% above the national Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary median of $36,780 (2,150 published local jobs).
  2. Home Health and Personal Care Aides$44,490 in Yakima, WA sits 24.3% above the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (4,770 published local jobs).
  3. Fast Food and Counter Workers$35,830 in Yakima, WA sits 14.8% above the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (3,280 published local jobs).
  4. Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse$39,070 in Yakima, WA sits 9.6% above the national Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse median of $35,660 (4,550 published local jobs).

Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Yakima, WA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.

BLS OEWS metro wage desk

MSA 49420 · Yakima, WA $60K mean

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

  • MEAN-MID #189/528
  • RPP-MID 95.5
  • OCC-MID 291 occs
  • TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $293K
  • EMP-MIX General and…
  • TREND-INLINE -0.8 pp
  • PHOTO-FINISH Merced, CA
  • BOOK-MOST 290 rows · May 2025

Read with Merced, CA (+$35 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 Yakima, WA

Guayama, PR · lowest mean: $32KGuayama, PR · lowest mean$32KYakima, WA · this MSA: $60KYakima, WA · this MSA$60KMerced, CA · near: $60KMerced, CA · near$60KLouisville/Jefferson… · near: $60KLouisville/Jefferson… · near$60KRockford, IL · near: $61KRockford, IL · near$61KMorgantown, WV · near: $61KMorgantown, WV · near$61KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean: $119KSan Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · high…$119K
Read the chart as text
Label Value
Guayama, PR · lowest mean $32K
Yakima, WA · this MSA $60K
Merced, CA · near $60K
Louisville/Jefferson… · near $60K
Rockford, IL · near $61K
Morgantown, WV · near $61K
San Jose-Sunnyvale-S… · highest mean $119K

Employment scale inside Yakima, WA's top-pay list

General and Operations Managers and Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary lead published employment inside Yakima, WA's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.

  1. 1. General and Operations Managers 1,010 jobs · $119,470
  2. 2. Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary 300 jobs · $151,280
  3. 3. Physicians, All Other 260 jobs · $293,080
  4. 4. Lawyers 230 jobs · $131,660
  5. 5. Nurse Practitioners 200 jobs · $138,860
  6. 6. Financial Managers 180 jobs · $157,550
  7. 7. Pharmacists 180 jobs · $146,650
  8. 8. Sales Managers 160 jobs · $152,110
  9. 9. Dental Hygienists 160 jobs · $120,690
  10. 10. Medical and Health Services Managers 150 jobs · $127,720
  11. 11. Physician Assistants 120 jobs · $136,570
  12. 12. First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives 110 jobs · $128,770
  13. 13. Marketing Managers 100 jobs · $162,340
  14. 14. Veterinarians 100 jobs · $158,180
  15. 15. Dentists, General 90 jobs · $200,130
  16. 16. Education Administrators, Postsecondary 80 jobs · $166,310
  17. 17. Computer and Information Systems Managers 80 jobs · $159,120
  18. 18. Industrial Production Managers 80 jobs · $129,990

Occupations Tracked

291

with wage data

Published-Row Mean

$60,433

employment-weighted, 290 complete rows

Top Salary

$293,080

Physicians, All Other

Cost of Living

95.5

4% below US avg

Price-level adjustment: Dividing the derived published-row mean of $60,433 by the metro RPP gives $63,251 on a national-price basis. This is not an after-tax income or a personal cost-of-living result.

Highest Paying Jobs in Yakima, WA

# Occupation Median Salary
1 Physicians, All Other $293,080
2 Family Medicine Physicians $276,310
3 Chief Executives $238,180
4 Dentists, General $200,130
5 Education Administrators, Postsecondary $166,310
6 Marketing Managers $162,340
7 Human Resources Managers $160,640
8 Computer and Information Systems Managers $159,120
9 Veterinarians $158,180
10 Financial Managers $157,550
11 Sales Managers $152,110
12 Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary $151,280
13 Pharmacists $146,650
14 Construction Managers $139,480
15 Nurse Practitioners $138,860
16 Physician Assistants $136,570
17 Lawyers $131,660
18 Industrial Production Managers $129,990
19 First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives $128,770
20 Medical and Health Services Managers $127,720
21 Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers $126,170
22 Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers $123,120
23 Dental Hygienists $120,690
24 Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers $119,850
25 General and Operations Managers $119,470

Lowest Paying Jobs in Yakima, WA

Occupation Median Salary
Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers $34,650
Amusement and Recreation Attendants $34,670
Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products $34,750
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers $35,170
Animal Caretakers $35,650
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop $35,680
Fast Food and Counter Workers $35,830
Dishwashers $35,950
Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants $35,960
Cashiers $36,010

Other BLS Wage Areas in WA

Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.

Bellingham, WA

WA · metropolitan area

Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA

WA · metropolitan area

Eastern Washington nonmetropolitan area

WA · nonmetropolitan area

Kennewick-Richland, WA

WA · metropolitan area

Longview-Kelso, WA

WA · metropolitan area
Compare Yakima, WA side-by-side with another metro →

Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale

Two OEWS peer sets outside WA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($60,433 here) and summed published employment.

Similar mean wage

Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.

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 is the average salary in Yakima, WA? ▼
Across the 290 occupation rows for Yakima, WA with both a published mean wage and employment estimate, weighting each mean by employment gives $60,433/year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The page has 291 occupations with a published median, a different denominator. This WageDex-derived benchmark is not a BLS-published All Occupations metro mean or median and does not state what a typical local worker earns. For contrast, averaging the medians of only the 25 highest-paying occupations gives $158,569, which describes the displayed top tier only.
Which published medians lead Yakima, WA? ▼
Physicians, All Other holds the highest published median in Yakima, WA at $293,080/year (BLS OEWS May 2025). Next is Family Medicine Physicians at $276,310/year. These are occupation medians for this metropolitan statistical area, not employer offers.
What is the cost of living in Yakima, WA? ▼
Yakima, WA has a Regional Price Parity of 95.5, meaning prices are 4% below the national average. Dividing the derived published-row mean of $60,433 by the RPP gives a national-price-equivalent benchmark of $63,251.
Where does BLS salary data for Yakima, WA come from? ▼
All salary figures are Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2025 estimates for this metropolitan statistical area. OEWS surveys approximately 1.1 million business establishments. Medians and means on this page are the published occupation-level estimates for the area, not job-board scrapes or modeled employer offers.

Related federal data

BLS OEWS, metro wage tables → BEA Regional Price Parities →

Last updated: May 2025 (BLS OEWS annual release). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025. Cost-of-living index: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024.

What to do with this data

How to use Yakima, WA wage figures in a real decision

  • Physicians, All Other leads published medians in Yakima, WA at $293,080/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Physicians, All Other
  • The employment-weighted published-row mean of $60,433 adjusts to about $63,251 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 95.5. Salary vs cost of living
  • Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for WA 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 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.

Verify with BLS →