How to use the place library
Choose one of 583 unique public state or local places. Check its map type. Then add the role that matches the work.
583 unique public wage places
BLS has 584 area rows for May 2025. We show 583 distinct places. One Guam nonmetro row repeats the territory row, so we leave it out. Browse 54 states or territories. There are also 393 metro areas and 136 nonmetro areas.
Each place keeps an official BLS code, type, title, all-occupations wage row, and job count. A metro can cross a state line. A nonmetro row can cover a broad part of a state. WageScope uses the source shape and does not rename it as a city when the source says metro area.
The national row is kept apart as the United States bench mark. Search uses readable place names, but the code is the data anchor. Open the area page and check its type before you use the rank. If a place name looks close but the map shape is wrong, choose the exact row.
What the all-occupations row means
An area page opens with the all-occupations median. This is the middle wage across covered wage and salary jobs in the area. It is not the median for every role. It is not one worker's pay. Use an occupation-area page when the question names a job.
The all-occupations mean and job count add scale. Mean can sit above the median when high wage values pull it up. Employment shows the covered job base. Neither field explains why a place differs from the United States or another area.
The area page can rank like map types by the published annual all-occupations median. The rank keeps its denominator. It is a place in a wage list, not a place score. A small wage gap can move several ranks, so the exact values stay visible.
See which detailed roles shape this local view
Area pages show a bounded list of detailed occupations with published fields. One list sorts by BLS job count. Another view can sort by median. A third can sort by location quotient. The lists do not sum to every local job and do not replace the all-occupations source row.
A large role can have a lower median. A small role can have a high local share. A high-paid role can have few jobs. Keeping the fields apart helps a reader see the local mix without turning pay, size, and share into one score.
Open a role-place page for the exact occupation. That page keeps the area's role row, the U.S. role row, the state row when exact, the wage ladder, job scale, price level, and current employer-title matches. The area hub is a map to that deeper question.
Jobs per 1,000 and location quotient need clear labels
Jobs per 1,000 is a local rate. It says how many jobs in the area fall in the occupation for each 1,000 covered jobs. This helps compare places of different size. It does not say how many jobs are open or how fast a field is growing.
Location quotient compares the local job share with the national share. A value of 1 means the shares match. Above 1 means the local share is larger. Below 1 means it is smaller. A high quotient can appear in a small job base.
Employment, jobs per 1,000, and location quotient work best together. Count shows scale. Rate shows the local mix. Quotient shows how that mix differs from the nation. None of them is a hiring forecast, fit score, or place choice.
Use an exact BEA row or show no proxy
The BEA file we use has 438 exact BLS state or metro matches. The source does not cover nonmetro rows. Some BLS areas can also lack an exact current match. WageScope does not use a nearby area or a broad state as a stand-in.
BEA uses the United States at 100. All items is the broad price index used in the national-price-dollar proxy. Housing, goods, utilities, and other services stay visible because local price parts can move in different ways. WageScope does not choose its own weights.
The 2024 price period is separate from May 2025 wages. The proxy divides a nominal wage by the all-items index divided by 100. It is a price-level comparison, not take-home pay or a personal budget. A missing price row removes the proxy, not the BLS wage page.
Keep one occupation and one wage field in the pair
A two-place page begins with an occupation, then two exact BLS areas. Both rows must have the same annual or hourly median. Both price rows must exist for the price-level view. A reversed pair redirects to one shared order. Missing or repeated areas do not make a comparison page.
The page shows several views of pay and place. You can see points in the pay range, the middle pay value, and the job count. Other fields show how common a job is and how prices compare. Each has its own label and meaning. We do not turn them into one city score.
Use the pair as a short check list. Read pay. Read the spread. Read job scale and share. Add price level. Then inspect one current job in each place when the public place match is exact. A move choice still needs facts outside these sources.
Choose a role before reading local listings
An area can hold hundreds of occupations. A broad area job list would mix unrelated work. WageScope asks for an occupation first. It then applies the strict employer-title rule for that role and a place filter only when the public place list has an exact approved match.
The job cards keep their employer, title, place, source, and seen date. They are not part of the government wage estimate. If no matching jobs are available, you can still use the area data to compare pay. Each card describes one opening, not the whole local job market.
Open one listing before you tailor. Use the employer post for the job needs. Use BLS for broad wage context. Use BEA for the separate price level. Use your confirmed work facts for the résumé. Each source has one job.
Why the date stays beside the answer
May 2025 OEWS estimates is the wage source used across WageScope. The reference period is May 2025. BLS published the release on May 15, 2026. A current job post may have a newer date, but that does not make the government wage row newer. Each source keeps its own clock.
We check the BLS tables each week. If a full new release is out, we stop calling our older data the latest. We check the new files and review their use before release. We do not change an old date to look fresh. Each new source must pass the same data and page checks.
BEA price-level data has a separate clock. The current WageScope price source is for 2024. It was published on February 19, 2026. WageScope shows the wage and price periods together when both are used. It never says the two sources describe the same month.
What a current listing can and cannot add
A job card shows a firm, title, place, source, and check date. We keep only close matches between the employer's title and the BLS job type. A wage page may have no matching cards. We leave out unclear matches, even when this means a useful post does not appear.
A listing may show posted pay. That range belongs to one employer post. It never enters the BLS median, mean, percentile, employment count, or price-level proxy. A list of posts also does not become a hiring score. The BLS row and the public catalog answer different questions on different clocks.
Each wage page must explain its source data well enough to stand on its own. We do not count job-post text toward that review. Posts can change or close at any time. If no jobs match, or job search is down, you can still read the wage data. We say what happened and do not fill the list with sample jobs.
What WageScope does with a visit
This page uses public government facts and job details cleared for public use. It does not read your Career Memory, private jobs, pasted job text, private pay, or saved résumé. Opening a role or place does not add a fact to your private record. It does not start an AI task.
This page does not build a private profile from your search, role, place, pay, or job cards. Public analytics tools may get the page URL while they are on. These tools are GA4, Ahrefs, and Meta. Use Your Privacy Choices or Global Privacy Control to turn that off. You can use WageScope without signing in.
To work on a résumé, choose a job and enter the private MeritLog flow. You check the work facts used in each draft. A BLS wage, area rank, job count, or price estimate cannot become a claim about your work. You can still use the public page when the private tools are closed.