The Puerto Rico all-occupations median was 43.7% below the U.S. all-occupations median in the same release. Retail Salespersons had the largest published employment estimate among the 30 occupation rows shown on this hub, at 41,230.
Among those high-employment rows, Security Guards had the highest published location quotient at 3.37. A location quotient above 1.00 means a larger share of local employment than the national share; it does not measure job quality or future demand.
Occupation detail
Largest published occupations in Puerto Rico
Sorted by published employment. Open a row for its local distribution, national comparison, and jobs.
Largest published occupation estimates by employment
Six high-employment rows from the bounded area summary. The table below keeps each full title and published field.
Retail Salespersons: 41,230 jobs. Janitors and Cleaners...: 29,030 jobs. Cashiers: 27,320 jobs. Fast Food and Counter...: 26,440 jobs. Security Guards: 26,100 jobs. Registered Nurses: 21,270 jobs.
Read the all-jobs wage, role mix, local job shares, price-level context, and survey limits as separate facts. Every value stays tied to BLS area 72.
Questions, answered
Wage data for Puerto Rico: common questions
What is the all-occupations median wage in Puerto Rico?
The May 2025 BLS OEWS release published an all-occupations median of $28,680 per year in Puerto Rico. It combines covered wage and salary jobs and is not a median for every individual occupation.
How many wage and salary jobs does BLS estimate in Puerto Rico?
BLS published an all-occupations employment estimate of 938,710 jobs for Puerto Rico. It is a survey estimate, not a current opening count.
What is the largest detailed occupation shown for Puerto Rico?
Retail Salespersons is the largest detailed occupation in the bounded table on this page, with 41,230 estimated jobs and a published median of $22,560 per year.
Does the Puerto Rico wage data adjust for local prices?
From market data to your evidence
Tailor for a real Retail Salespersons job, not a generic wage number.
Pick an eligible listing, then MeritLog can help you prepare from experience you have confirmed. WageScope never turns a BLS estimate into a qualification or résumé claim.
The May 2025 BLS OEWS estimate puts the all-occupations median in Puerto Rico at $28,680 per year. This is the middle wage across covered wage and salary jobs in the area. It is not the median for each job title. It is not one worker's pay. Use an occupation page when you need a role-level answer.
BLS lists 938,710 covered jobs in Puerto Rico. The all-occupations mean is $38,840 per year. Mean means add the wage values and split the total by the number of jobs behind the estimate. The median and mean can differ because the local wage mix is not even.
Puerto Rico's $28,680 all-occupations median is 43.7% below the U.S. all-occupations median of $50,980 on the same published median. This is a wage check on the same source period. It does not add local price levels, taxes, hours, benefits, or household needs.
Where Puerto Rico sits among states and territories
Puerto Rico ranks 54 of 54 among states and territories with a published annual all-occupations median. WageScope keeps the map type the same. It does not place a state, metro, and nonmetro row in one rank. The rank uses the May 2025 BLS median only.
A rank is a place in a sorted list. It is not a score. It does not say a place is good or bad. It does not show the size of the job base. Puerto Rico has 938,710 covered jobs, while another row near it can have a very different count.
The nearby rank rows give context without turning the list into a league table. Small gaps can move a place by several spots. A later BLS release can also change the order. Read the wage gap and the source date beside the rank. Do not use rank alone to make a move.
51. Virgin Islands (territory) has an all-occupations median of $42,870 per year and 32,090 covered jobs. Its wage gap from Puerto Rico is $14,190.
52. Mississippi has an all-occupations median of $40,120 per year and 1,163,030 covered jobs. Its wage gap from Puerto Rico is $11,440.
53. Guam (territory) has an all-occupations median of $36,650 per year and 66,600 covered jobs. Its wage gap from Puerto Rico is $7,970.
The largest detailed occupations shown for Puerto Rico
The role list is sorted by the BLS employment estimate. It shows detailed occupations from the bounded source table for Puerto Rico. The first row, Retail Salespersons, has 41,230 estimated jobs. Its median is $22,560 per year.
Large roles shape the all-occupations wage mix, but they do not set it by themselves. A role with many jobs and a lower wage can pull the middle one way. A smaller role with a higher wage can move the mean. The all-occupations row is based on the whole covered job mix, not just the occupations shown in this bounded list.
Employment here means wage and salary jobs in the BLS survey scope. It does not mean people looking for work. It does not mean openings. It does not show how fast a role is changing. Use the current job cards only to inspect dated employer-title matches. Keep that view apart from this May 2025 job count.
1. Retail Salespersons has 41,230 estimated jobs in Puerto Rico. Its published median is $22,560 per year. Its location quotient is 1.75.
2. Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners has 29,030 estimated jobs in Puerto Rico. Its published median is $21,890 per year. Its location quotient is 2.18.
Role pay range
How published medians differ inside Puerto Rico
The detailed roles shown for Puerto Rico do not share one pay level. General and Operations Managers has the highest published median in this bounded role set, at $73,570 per year. That does not make it the highest-paid role in every job or in every part of the area.
The list keeps each official SOC title tied to its own wage row. It does not blend fields, levels, or job posts. A role median can be above the $28,680 all-occupations median even when the role has few jobs. A large role can sit below that mark. Pay and job count answer different questions.
Use a role's own WageScope page before you compare places. That page shows the national spread, the same SOC code across areas, and the source limits. The area list is a starting map. It is not enough to set a pay target for one person or one listing.
1. General and Operations Managers has a published median of $73,570 per year in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 7,190 jobs. Its local share is 0.34 times the national share.
2. Business Operations Specialists, All Other has a published median of $46,700 per year in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 9,360 jobs. Its local share is 1.43 times the national share.
3. Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers has a published median of $45,510 per year in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 11,640 jobs. Its local share is 2.88 times the national share.
Local share
Roles with a larger local share in Puerto Rico
Location quotient compares a role's share of jobs in Puerto Rico with that role's share across the nation. A value of 1 means the shares match. A value above 1 means the role takes a larger share of local jobs. A value below 1 means the share is smaller. The value does not show growth or open jobs.
Security Guards has the highest published location quotient in this bounded set, at 3.37. The same row has 26,100 jobs and a median of $21,840 per year. Read all three fields together.
A high share can appear in a small job base. A large job count can appear with a share near 1. A high median can appear in either case. The three measures are not a single score. They help you ask three clear questions: how many jobs, how common the role is in the local mix, and what wage BLS published.
1. Security Guards has a location quotient of 3.37 in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 26,100 jobs and a median of $21,840 per year.
2. Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers has a location quotient of 2.88 in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 11,640 jobs and a median of $45,510 per year.
3. Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria has a location quotient of 2.63 in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 7,000 jobs and a median of $26,260 per year.
Separate price view
What the BEA price level adds for Puerto Rico
WageScope has no exact approved 2024 BEA price row for Puerto Rico. It does not use a nearby place. It does not copy a state value into a local row. The May 2025 BLS wage page stays useful without that extra source.
A missing BEA row means the page cannot show the national-price-dollar proxy. It does not mean local prices equal the U.S. level. It does not mean the area has low or high prices. The source is absent for this exact map key, so the answer stays absent.
You can still compare the same BLS wage metric with the U.S. row or with like area rows. Keep that as a nominal wage comparison. Add price context only when an exact, current, reviewed source row is available.
The all-occupations employment RSE for Puerto Rico is 0%. The mean-wage RSE is 0.7%. RSE means relative standard error. It is a survey precision flag. A smaller value often means less sampling uncertainty. It is not an error bar for one person's wage.
The employment RSE belongs to the 938,710 job estimate. The mean-wage RSE belongs to the all-occupations mean. WageScope does not attach either field to a detailed role, the median, or a percentile. Each role row has its own published care marks when BLS supplies them.
Some BLS values are blank or top coded. Blank does not mean zero. A top code means the value is at least the shown bound. WageScope keeps those states in the role pages and tables. It does not fill a missing value from a peer role, past year, or nearby place.
Use Puerto Rico as a map, then choose one occupation
Start with the role that matches the work you mean. Official titles can sound broad. Open the role page and check its SOC code. Then compare the Puerto Rico row with the U.S. row on the same annual or hourly metric. Read the job count and location quotient beside the wage. Add the BEA price level only when the exact row is present.
Next, look at the wage spread. The median shows the middle. The 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles show more of the range. A posted job range can be compared with those marks as context, but it stays employer evidence. It never becomes part of the BLS estimate.
If the role-place row is missing, use the national role page or choose another official area. Do not guess. A clean missing state is more useful than a made-up number. It tells you what the source can and cannot answer.
Move from Puerto Rico wage data to one checked job
The area page does not treat every local job as the same. Choose an occupation first. WageScope can then use a strict employer-title match for that role. A place filter is used only when the BLS area has an exact approved match in the public place list. If that match is not safe, the page says so.
Each shown job keeps the employer, place, source, and seen date. The cards can change as the public catalog changes. They do not count toward this page's stable content gate. They do not change Puerto Rico's $28,680 all-occupations median. They do not prove that the employer uses the BLS title.
Open a listing before you tailor. Use facts from your own work that you can support. A wage value is not a skill, result, or duty. MeritLog can help shape confirmed work for the listing you chose. The public area page does not save the role, listing, place, or résumé on load.
The page does not say what one person in Puerto Rico earns. It does not promise a wage, job, move, or result. It does not call the all-occupations median a role wage. It does not turn rank 54 of 54 into a place score. It does not say why wages differ.
The BLS job count leaves out people who work for themselves and other work outside the survey scope. The current job cards are a separate set of public listings. Neither source shows all work. Neither source tells you the chance of getting hired. A missing value stays missing.
Use the page for a narrow task. See the May 2025 local wage picture. Choose one official occupation. Compare the same field across like places. Add the separate 2024 price level when it exists. Read a current employer-title match. Then make a résumé choice from work facts you have confirmed.
No. BLS wage estimates are nominal. Where an exact BEA Regional Price Parity row exists, WageScope shows that price-level context separately and labels its source period.
Are MeritLog job listings part of the government wage estimate?
No. Eligible live listings remain separate from BLS statistics. Their locations and posted pay do not change the official area or occupation rows.
3. Cashiers has 27,320 estimated jobs in Puerto Rico. Its published median is $22,140 per year. Its location quotient is 1.46.
4. Fast Food and Counter Workers has 26,440 estimated jobs in Puerto Rico. Its published median is $22,030 per year. Its location quotient is 1.14.
5. Security Guards has 26,100 estimated jobs in Puerto Rico. Its published median is $21,840 per year. Its location quotient is 3.37.
6. Registered Nurses has 21,270 estimated jobs in Puerto Rico. Its published median is $39,880 per year. Its location quotient is 1.04.
7. Customer Service Representatives has 20,330 estimated jobs in Puerto Rico. Its published median is $26,700 per year. Its location quotient is 1.3.
8. Office Clerks, General has 20,190 estimated jobs in Puerto Rico. Its published median is $23,860 per year. Its location quotient is 1.36.
4. Accountants and Auditors has a published median of $43,530 per year in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 12,370 jobs. Its local share is 1.41 times the national share.
5. First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers has a published median of $42,840 per year in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 16,400 jobs. Its local share is 1.89 times the national share.
6. Registered Nurses has a published median of $39,880 per year in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 21,270 jobs. Its local share is 1.04 times the national share.
7. Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants has a published median of $37,120 per year in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 7,100 jobs. Its local share is 2.56 times the national share.
8. First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers has a published median of $30,090 per year in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 12,700 jobs. Its local share is 1.88 times the national share.
4. Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative Assistants has a location quotient of 2.56 in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 7,100 jobs and a median of $37,120 per year.
5. Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners has a location quotient of 2.18 in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 29,030 jobs and a median of $21,890 per year.
6. First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers has a location quotient of 1.89 in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 16,400 jobs and a median of $42,840 per year.
7. First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers has a location quotient of 1.88 in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 12,700 jobs and a median of $30,090 per year.
8. Retail Salespersons has a location quotient of 1.75 in Puerto Rico. BLS lists 41,230 jobs and a median of $22,560 per year.
We did not fill this page with jobs from other places. Search all Retail Salespersons jobs, then check each listing's location before you tailor your resume.
