Start with the answer
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA and Topeka, KS
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $42,900 per year in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA. It is $49,140 per year in Topeka, KS. Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA is 12.7% below Topeka, KS on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 53-7062 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists 9,630 wage and salary jobs in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA and 2,140 in Topeka, KS. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.
Evidence: bls-oews-may-2025 · Rule: same-soc-same-metric-pair · nominal-median-gap · employment-not-openings