Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA vs Traverse City, MI pay

Percentile	Published wages	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	Traverse City, MI
10th	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$73,570Traverse City, MI$46,770	$73,570	$46,770
25th	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$98,090Traverse City, MI$48,450	$98,090

Place	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Employment RSE
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	1,040Jobs per 1,000: 0.44 Location quotient: 0.53	0.44	0.53	4.5%
Traverse City, MI	90Jobs per 1,000: 1.31 Location quotient: 1.59	1.31	1.59	22.9%

Median	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$125,160Traverse City, MI$60,390	$125,160	$60,390

75th	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$137,170Traverse City, MI$61,610	$137,170	$61,610

90th	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$147,790Traverse City, MI$68,300	$147,790	$68,300

Start with the answer

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators pay in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators is $125,160 per year in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. It is $60,390 per year in Traverse City, MI. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is 107.3% above Traverse City, MI on the published median.

Both rows use SOC 51-8031 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 1,040 wage and salary jobs in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and 90 in Traverse City, MI. 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.

Pay range

Compare the full Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators wage ladder

A median can hide a wide range. The 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile points show more of each area's spread. A percentile is a rank point. It is not a career stage. The 10th point does not mean new-worker pay. The 90th point does not mean a wage that comes after a set number of years.

The lower half can differ from the upper half. One area can lead at the median and trail at another point. Read each field against the same field in the other area. Do not compare one area's 75th percentile with the other area's median. That would answer a different question.

A posted job range can sit below, across, or above these marks. That does not make the post wrong. A listing can differ by employer, level, hours, field, or work rules. Keep the listing tied to that employer. Keep the BLS range tied to the whole role-place row.

10th percentile: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is $73,570 per year; Traverse City, MI is $46,770 per year. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is 57.3% above Traverse City, MI at this point.
25th percentile: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is $98,090 per year; Traverse City, MI is $48,450 per year. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is 102.5% above Traverse City, MI at this point.
Median: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is $125,160 per year; Traverse City, MI is $60,390 per year. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is 107.3% above Traverse City, MI at this point.
75th percentile: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is $137,170 per year; Traverse City, MI is $61,610 per year. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is 122.6% above Traverse City, MI at this point.
90th percentile: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is $147,790 per year; Traverse City, MI is $68,300 per year. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is 116.4% above Traverse City, MI at this point.

Shape of pay

Mean and median tell two parts of the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators story

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has a mean of $116,800 per year and a median of $125,160. Traverse City, MI has a mean of $58,230 per year and a median of $60,390. Mean adds all wage values and splits the total by the number of jobs behind the estimate.

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's mean is 6.7% below its median on the same published median. Traverse City, MI's mean is 3.6% below its median on the same published median. The gaps show that each wage spread has a shape. They do not explain why the shape differs.

Use median for the middle. Use mean to see how the full set pulls. Use percentiles to see more of the spread. None of the three is a pay promise. A person, team, or listing can sit far from all three for reasons that are outside these BLS rows.

Job scale

How the two Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators job bases differ

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has 1,040 estimated Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators jobs. Traverse City, MI has 90. The larger count shows a larger covered job base in this source. It does not show more open roles, faster hiring, or a better chance for one applicant.

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has 0.44 Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators jobs per 1,000 local jobs. Traverse City, MI has 1.31 per 1,000. This rate helps compare places of different size. It is not a job-post rate and does not use the MeritLog catalog.

The employment RSE is 4.5% in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and 22.9% in Traverse City, MI. RSE means relative standard error. It is a survey precision flag. It is not the chance that the job count or one person's pay is right.

Local share

Where Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators takes a larger share of jobs

The location quotient is 0.53 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and 1.59 in Traverse City, MI. A value of 1 means the role has the same share of local jobs as it has across the nation. A value above 1 means the local share is larger. A value below 1 means it is smaller.

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's quotient is 66.7% below Traverse City, MI's. That gap is about the job mix. It is not a wage gap, a job-count gap, or a growth claim.

Read location quotient with employment. A small place can have a high share and few jobs. A large place can have many jobs and a share near the national mark. Then read pay as its own field. The three measures do not form one score.

BEA price view

How price levels differ between San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

BEA's 2024 all-items price index is 115.6 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and 93.4 in Traverse City, MI. The U.S. level is 100. A higher number means the broad local price level is higher than the national mark. It does not say a place is good or bad.

Housing is 194.7 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and 78.1 in Traverse City, MI. Goods are 108.5 and 93.7. Utilities are 172.6 and 92.4. Other services are 106.2 and 99.6. The parts can move in different ways.

The wage period is May 2025. The price period is 2024. WageScope keeps those clocks visible. It uses the all-items index for one clear proxy. It does not mix BEA prices into the BLS source row, and it does not claim the two releases describe the exact same month.

Price-level proxy

Compare the medians in national-price dollars

WageScope divides San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's $125,160 median by 115.6 divided by 100. The result is $108,258 per year. It divides Traverse City, MI's $60,390 median by 93.4 divided by 100. That result is $64,677 per year.

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's proxy is 67.4% above Traverse City, MI's. The nominal gap is 107.3%. The order can stay the same or change after the price-level step. Both results must keep their labels.

The proxy is a narrow math tool. It is not take-home pay. It does not add taxes, benefits, household size, debt, commute, schools, safety, climate, or taste. It does not set a wage target. Use it to see how one broad price index changes the wage view, then check your own costs outside WageScope.

Same-proxy pay

What equal price-level pay would look like in the other place

$125,160 per year in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has the same national-price-dollar proxy as $101,082 per year in Traverse City, MI. The math keeps San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's proxy fixed, then applies Traverse City, MI's all-items price index.

$60,390 per year in Traverse City, MI has the same proxy as $74,775 per year in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. This reverse view is useful because the answer depends on which wage you start with. It is not a claim about an offer in either place.

Equivalent nominal pay uses one broad price measure. It does not know what a person buys. It does not know rent, family size, debt, taxes, travel, benefits, or savings. Treat the result as a clean source-backed comparison, not a full move plan or a number an employer must match.

Data care

Check the survey marks before you use the gap

The mean-wage RSE is 1% in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and 2.4% in Traverse City, MI. The employment RSE is 4.5% and 22.9%. RSE is a precision flag for the field it sits beside. It is not a score for the whole page.

BLS does not publish the same RSE field for the median and each percentile. WageScope does not move a mean RSE to the median. It does not use an employment RSE as a wage care mark. Each value stays tied to its source field. Missing or top-coded values also keep their source state.

A later BLS or BEA release can change the result. MeritLog checks the official source clocks before promotion. The page cannot call its data current when a newer complete release is waiting for review. Current job cards have their own seen date and do not make the government data newer.

Use the result

A short check list for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

Start with the same Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators wage field. Then read the full percentile spread. Check job count, jobs per 1,000, and location quotient. Add the 2024 all-items and housing price levels. Read the national-price-dollar proxy with its limits. Keep the BLS and BEA dates in view.

Next, inspect one current employer-title match in each place when an exact public place match exists. A job post can show work level, hours, location rules, and pay that the BLS row cannot. The post is dated employer evidence. It does not change the survey median or prove a broad trend.

Last, use your own facts. Compare the job needs with work you have done and can support. A wage gap cannot show fit. A price-level gap cannot show fit. A job count cannot show fit. MeritLog's résumé path starts only after you choose a listing and confirm the work facts you want to use.

Limits

What this Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators comparison does not decide

The page does not choose San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA or Traverse City, MI for you. It does not say what one worker earns. It does not promise a job, offer, raise, or move result. It does not say why the medians differ. It does not turn the larger wage, job count, quotient, or proxy into a place score.

The comparison leaves out people who work for themselves and other work outside the OEWS scope. It does not add taxes, take-home pay, benefits, stock, bonus pay, hours, travel, remote work, or a household budget. Current listings are separate and can be empty even when the government rows are complete.

Use this page for a bounded choice. Compare the same May 2025 BLS role and metric across two exact areas. Add the separate 2024 BEA price view. Inspect dated employer-title matches. Then build a résumé from facts you have confirmed. Keep each source tied to the question it can answer.

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA vs Traverse City, MI

Same occupation, same annual wage metric

The winner can change when local prices differ

Housing and all-items indexes explain the adjustment

Equivalent nominal pay, using price levels only

Employment scale and local concentration

Compare another occupation or pair

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI guide

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI: common questions

Compare Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators listings by place

Occupation-wide matches, shown once

No precise employer-title matches right now.

Current jobs

Tailor for a real Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators job, not a generic wage number.

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators pay in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

Compare the full Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators wage ladder

Mean and median tell two parts of the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators story

How the two Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators job bases differ

Where Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators takes a larger share of jobs

How price levels differ between San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

Compare the medians in national-price dollars

What equal price-level pay would look like in the other place

Check the survey marks before you use the gap

A short check list for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

What this Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators comparison does not decide

Compare Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators listings by place

Occupation-wide matches, shown once

No precise employer-title matches right now.

Privacy choices

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA vs Traverse City, MI

Same occupation, same annual wage metric

The winner can change when local prices differ

Housing and all-items indexes explain the adjustment

Equivalent nominal pay, using price levels only

Employment scale and local concentration

Compare another occupation or pair

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators: San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI guide

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI: common questions

Compare Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators listings by place

Occupation-wide matches, shown once

No precise employer-title matches right now.

Current jobs

Tailor for a real Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators job, not a generic wage number.

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators pay in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

Compare the full Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators wage ladder

Mean and median tell two parts of the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators story

How the two Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators job bases differ

Where Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators takes a larger share of jobs

How price levels differ between San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

Compare the medians in national-price dollars

What equal price-level pay would look like in the other place

Check the survey marks before you use the gap

A short check list for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA and Traverse City, MI

What this Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators comparison does not decide

Compare Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators listings by place

Occupation-wide matches, shown once

No precise employer-title matches right now.