20th of 25: where a St. Louis home care wage sits against the other big metros
Same occupation, same survey, same month. Only the metro changes.
Take the 25 largest metro areas in the country by total employment. Sort them by the median hourly wage for occupation 31-1120. St. Louis comes in 20th at $14.28.
The spread across those 25 metros is $11.48 an hour, from Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands at $10.97 to Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue at $22.45. A wage that moves that much between metros is a labor market signal, not a national price. Read a national average as a guide to your own budget at your own risk.
| # | Metro area | Median | 10th | 90th | Aides |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $22.45 | $19.32 | $25.82 | 53,140 |
| 2 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $21.31 | $18.14 | $24.68 | 22,190 |
| 3 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $19.13 | $17.92 | $21.63 | 63,880 |
| 4 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $18.27 | $16.96 | $21.80 | 605,590 |
| 5 | Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $18.17 | $17.08 | $21.50 | 23,790 |
| 6 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $17.91 | $14.55 | $21.41 | 40,900 |
| 7 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | $17.64 | $15.00 | $21.53 | 22,820 |
| 8 | Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $17.54 | $14.52 | $19.12 | 53,750 |
| 9 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $17.47 | $15.97 | $20.02 | 94,530 |
| 10 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $17.38 | $14.86 | $21.59 | 86,260 |
| 11 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $17.24 | $16.88 | $21.38 | 109,070 |
| 12 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $16.85 | $16.85 | $18.81 | 51,760 |
| 13 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $16.64 | $16.64 | $18.01 | 350,610 |
| 14 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $16.00 | $16.00 | $17.77 | 90,350 |
| 15 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $15.86 | $14.14 | $17.87 | 9,400 |
| 16 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $15.66 | $13.94 | $18.13 | 13,110 |
| 17 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $15.53 | $11.62 | $19.99 | 38,410 |
| 18 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $15.48 | $14.04 | $17.90 | 26,760 |
| 19 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $14.91 | $11.78 | $18.08 | 13,720 |
| 20 | St. Louis, MO-IL | $14.28 | $13.08 | $20.00 | 42,390 |
| 21 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | $14.20 | $13.19 | $18.91 | 142,460 |
| 22 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $13.81 | $11.73 | $18.56 | 27,390 |
| 23 | Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $13.35 | $10.26 | $17.40 | 12,070 |
| 24 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $12.51 | $10.07 | $16.92 | 55,460 |
| 25 | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $10.97 | $9.91 | $14.71 | 60,390 |
Metro names are the survey's own area titles. St. Louis is set in the second colour.