Orbyt does not publish metro wage growth rates. A growth rate compares the same occupation, in the same metro, at two points in time. Our wage levels come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, which publishes once a year, and we currently serve a single release. Two releases are the minimum an honest year-over-year figure requires, so until we hold two, there is no number here.
This page used to rank 81 metros by projected growth. Those figures were modelled rather than measured, and a ranking is a stronger claim than a projection: it tells a reader that somebody established an order. We took it down rather than leave a leaderboard nobody could stand behind.
What we publish instead.
Wage levels, per occupation, per metro. Each one carries the BLS published 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile, the number of employed workers the figure rests on, and a link to the BLS page it came from. Those are observations. They are current as of the May 2024 release.
Questions.
Does Orbyt publish wage growth rates by metro?
Not today. A wage growth rate compares the same occupation, in the same metro, measured at two different times. Our wage levels come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, which publishes once a year, and we currently serve a single release. Any growth number we printed would be modelled rather than measured, so we print none.
Why not estimate it?
Because an estimated growth rate is indistinguishable from a measured one once it is on the page, and a ranking built from estimates is worse than no ranking. A reader who sees metros ordered by growth reasonably assumes somebody established that order. If we cannot honour that assumption we should not present the list.
What does Orbyt publish instead?
Wage levels. For each occupation code in each covered metro we show the BLS published 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile, the number of employed workers the figure rests on, and a link to the BLS page it came from. Those are observations, not projections, and they are current as of the May 2024 release.
When will growth rates appear here?
When a second annual OES release is ingested alongside the current one. That gives a real year-over-year change per occupation per metro, computed from two published figures rather than derived from anything. This page becomes that table when the data supports it.