What this does
The last row of each state page's labor market at a glance card holds two short lists:
- Pay that grew faster than inflation in <State>: up to five careers whose typical pay rose the most over about ten years, after taking out price rises.
- Pay that fell behind inflation in <State>: up to five careers whose typical pay lost the most buying power over the same years.
A raise that only keeps up with prices does not make anyone better off. These lists show "real" change: what the pay buys, not just the number on the paycheck.
- Students see which careers have gained ground in your state and which have slipped.
- Parents get a long view that a single year of pay cannot give.
- Counselors get a sourced talking point about pay trends, with each career one click away.
Before you start
- Open your state's page. The lists are only on state pages. See State pages.
- Check "Showing data for". It names the state you see. Picking another state on a state page opens that state's own page. See Choosing a state.
- Know the years. The newest year is May 2024. The starting year is usually May 2014, but can be 2013 or 2012 for a career that has no 2014 figure.
- Know the measure. Each figure is the change in the career's statewide median pay, the middle of what everyone in it earned. It is not the change for one person's pay.
Step by step
- Open your state's page and scroll to the bottom row of the <State> labor market at a glance card. The two lists sit side by side (stacked on a narrow screen).
- Read the left heading, Pay that grew faster than inflation in <State>, and the grey line under it: Change in median pay, <first year>–<last year>, adjusted for inflation with the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). On the Texas page it begins Change in Texas median pay.
- Read the rows. Each has a rank, a career name and a green percentage with a plus sign, largest first.
- Look for a small grey note such as (11y) after a percentage. It means that career's change covers 11 years, not 10 (see "Reading the results"). The Texas page shows it too.
- Read the right heading, Pay that fell behind inflation in <State>. Its rows show red percentages with a minus sign, the biggest loss first.
- Click a career name in either list. The career's summary on Careers opens with that career already chosen and your state kept.
Every control explained
The lists have no inputs of their own. These are the things you can click, and one nearby control that does not change them.
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for menu | Top of the page, under the menu bar | Opens the state page of the state you pick; its lists show that state. United States takes you to the home page, which has U.S. versions of these lists. | The state the page belongs to | Your pick is remembered in your browser for other pages. |
| Career name, "grew faster" list | Left list, each row | Opens that career's summary on Careers with the career chosen and your state kept. | — | The career's wage history on Jobs Trends shows the year-by-year path. |
| Career name, "fell behind" list | Right list, each row | Same: opens that career's summary on Careers. | — | A career in this list can still pay well; it just bought less in its last year than in its first. |
| 5y / 10y buttons | Unemployment chart, near the top of the card | Only the unemployment chart. | 5y | The pay lists always compare the same years, whichever range you pick. |
Reading the results
| Item | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay that grew faster than inflation in <State> | Careers whose median pay rose more than prices | — | — | Careers with a real change above zero, largest first, up to five. |
| Pay that fell behind inflation in <State> | Careers whose median pay rose less than prices, or fell | — | — | Careers with a real change below zero, biggest loss first, up to five. |
| Year range in the grey line, such as "2014–2024" | The years the list covers | Years | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | From the earliest starting year of any row in that list to the newest year. One row with an older start widens the range for the whole list. |
| Green "+" percentage | How much more the median buys in the newest year than in the starting year | Percent, one decimal | BLS wage survey, statewide rows, May 2024 and the starting year; BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) | The starting-year median is restated in 2024 dollars; the percentage is the change from that figure to the 2024 median. |
| Red "−" percentage | How much less the median buys in the newest year | Percent, one decimal | Same | Same calculation, with a result below zero. |
| Grey (11y) or (12y) | That row's change covers more than 10 years | Years | Same | Shown when the row's starting year is not exactly ten years before the newest. Every state page shows it, Texas included. |
Start and end years
The end year is the newest year of statewide wages in your state's data: May 2024 in every state today. The starting year, for each career, is the newest year with a figure at least ten years earlier, but no more than twelve years earlier. So it is May 2014 when the data has that year for the career, and May 2013 or May 2012 when it does not. Older starting points are not used, because a twenty-year change would outrank every real ten-year one.
How inflation is taken out
The site uses the BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, as a yearly average. It multiplies the starting-year median by the ratio of the newest year's index to the starting year's index. That gives the starting pay in 2024 dollars. The percentage is the gap between the 2024 median and that restated figure. The same national index is used in every state.
Which careers can appear
- At least 1,000 jobs statewide in both years. Smaller careers are left out; one or two employers can swing their median.
- A reliable job count. BLS publishes how precise each job-count estimate is. Careers whose estimate has a relative standard error above 30% are left out.
- No catch-all groups. Careers named "All Other" or "Miscellaneous" mix unlike jobs, so their median moves with the mix, not with pay. Legislators are left out for a similar reason.
- No lopsided medians. When a median sits on a pile-up of one wage (the gap to one quartile is more than ten times the gap to the other), it can jump for reasons that have nothing to do with pay. Those careers are left out.
- Named careers only, and no group totals.
- A change of exactly zero goes in neither list.
Row counts and minimum sizes
Each list shows at most five careers, and either can be shorter. A list needs at least three careers to be drawn. With fewer, the panel shows one line instead:
- Too few occupations in <State> where pay grew faster than inflation over about 10 years to rank.
- Too few occupations in <State> where pay fell behind inflation over about 10 years to rank.
- Wage history not yet ingested. (on the Texas page, Wage history not loaded.) Both lists are empty, so the state's older wage figures are missing or the newest wage year has no matching price index yet.
A "Too few" line is a finding, not missing data: few careers in the state moved that way. The data service also sends a one-line note, not shown on the page, that lists these same rules.
To learn more, read how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A high school student in Michigan wonders whether pay in the trades has kept up with prices.
- On the Michigan page, she scrolls to the bottom row of Michigan labor market at a glance.
- The left list, Pay that grew faster than inflation in Michigan, has a grey line ending in a year range such as 2014–2024 and "adjusted for inflation with the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U)". It shows five careers, each with a green percentage, largest first. One row carries a small grey (11y), so its start year is 2013, and the range in the grey line starts at 2013 too.
- The right list, Pay that fell behind inflation in Michigan, shows red percentages with a minus sign. She notes that these careers' pay may still have gone up in dollars, just less than prices.
- If a list shows Too few occupations in Michigan where pay fell behind inflation over about 10 years to rank., she reads it as "only one or two careers fell behind", not as an error.
- She clicks a career in the left list. Its summary on Careers opens for Michigan, and from there she follows the link to its wage history for the year-by-year path.
Common questions
- The career's pay went up. Why is it in "fell behind inflation"?
- Prices rose faster than its pay. In 2024 dollars, the 2024 median buys less than the starting-year median did.
- Why does the year range start at 2012 or 2013?
- The range runs from the earliest starting year of any row in that list. If one career has no 2014 figure, its change starts in 2013 or 2012, and the range widens to include it. That row carries a grey (11y) or (12y) note on every state page, Texas included.
- Why do the two lists show different year ranges?
- Each list works out its own range from its own rows.
- Why is a career I know missing?
- It may have had fewer than 1,000 jobs in your state in one of the two years, an imprecise job count, a catch-all name, or a lopsided median. Or its change simply was not among the five largest.
- Why does a career grow in one state and fall behind in another?
- Each state has its own wage figures and its own employers. The price index is the same everywhere, so the difference comes from pay.
- Does this use local prices?
- No. It uses the national CPI-U for every state, so it does not reflect a state's own cost of living.
- Why are there only five careers?
- The lists are meant as a quick read of the extremes. The career pages and Jobs Trends show the full history for any one career.
What this does NOT do
- It is not a job board and not advice.
- It does not predict future pay. It describes what happened between the starting year and May 2024.
- It does not show any one person's raise. It compares the middle of all pay in a career, and who works in a career changes over ten years.
- It does not adjust for your state's own prices; it uses the national price index.
- It stores nothing about you. You do not need an account; signing in is only for saving reports.
Related
- State pages
- Top-paying careers
- Most-hired careers right now
- National overview, with the U.S. versions of these lists
- Jobs Trends, for a career's wage history
- Careers
- Privacy and limits
- Live page: Careers