Snapshots
Western markets are becoming more expensive labor pools
December 17, 2024
Contributors:
- Jacob Rowden
- Surging cost of living in many markets over the past five years is beginning to impact the cost of labor, as employee salaries in the past four years have risen at double the average pace of the last 15+ years. But housing markets have seen disproportionate impacts, and cities in the western U.S. are now rapidly becoming more expensive labor pools as a result.
- Western markets now make up 7 of the 10 most expensive white collar labor pools in the U.S., after comprising just four in 2010. Salaries in those seven markets have increased at an average rate of 4.7% annually over the past five years, compared to a 3.7% national average.
- Western markets are now the most expensive region for office labor in the country, with median salaries of $119,000, followed by the Northeast at $114,000, the South Central region at $103,000, the Southeast at $97,000 and the Midwest at $96,000. The Midwest had averaged higher wages than the Southeast historically up until 2021.
- Wage growth has been fastest over the past five years in Silicon Valley (+6.2% annually), Grand Rapids (+5.9%), Portland (+5.1%), San Francisco (+5%) and Sacramento (+5%); wage growth has been slowest in St. Louis (+1.2%), Houston (+1.6%), Pittsburgh (+2.1%), Louisville (+2.1%) and Dallas-Fort Worth (+2.4%).
