Workers in the College Station-Bryan Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.23 in May 2016, about 15 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; life, physical, and social science; and computer and mathematical. Only one group – education, training, and library – had wages that were measurably higher than the national average. Local wage levels in the remaining occupational groups were not statistically different from their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, College Station employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups including; education, training, and library; office and administrative support; and life, physical, and social science. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving; management; and business and financial operations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the College Station-Bryan, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	College Station-Bryan, TX	United States	College Station-Bryan, TX	Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100.0	100.0	$23.86	$20.23*	-15
Management	5.1	3.0*	56.74	54.27	-4
Business and financial operations	5.2	3.1*	36.09	31.38*	-13
Computer and mathematical	3.0	2.2*	42.25	30.30*	-28
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.7	40.53	32.05*	-21
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	2.5*	35.06	23.93*	-32
Community and social service	1.4	1.2*	22.69	22.50	-1
Legal	0.8	0.3*	50.95	31.83*	-38
Education, training, and library	6.2	11.0*	26.21	32.59*	24
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.4	1.0*	28.07	28.23	1
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.9	5.2*	38.06	31.11*	-18
Healthcare support	2.9	1.9*	14.65	13.14*	-10
Protective service	2.4	2.0	22.03	20.69*	-6
Food preparation and serving related	9.2	10.7*	11.47	9.86*	-14
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	2.9	13.47	12.38*	-8
Personal care and service	3.2	2.3*	12.74	11.86*	-7
Sales and related	10.4	9.2*	19.50	15.42*	-21
Office and administrative support	15.7	19.8*	17.91	14.53*	-19
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	(2)	13.37	12.50	-7
Construction and extraction	4.0	4.5	23.51	18.23*	-22
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	3.4*	22.45	19.36*	-14
Production	6.5	(2)	17.88	(2)
Transportation and material moving	6.9	4.5*	17.34	15.87*	-8
Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the College Station-Bryan, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. (2) Estimate not released * The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group – education, training, and library – was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. College Station had 11,760 jobs in education, training, and library, accounting for 11.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent national share. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $32.59, nearly 25 percent above the national average wage of $26.21.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the education, training, and library group included graduate teaching assistants (1,730), elementary school teachers, except special education (1,200), and teacher assistants (840). Among the higher-paying jobs were postsecondary agricultural sciences teachers and postsecondary health specialties teachers, with mean annual wages of $118,370 and $116,350, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were teacher assistants ($21,310) and substitute teachers ($22,390). (Detailed occupational data for education, training, and library are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17780.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the College Station metropolitan area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the education, training, and library group. For instance, postsecondary agricultural sciences teachers were employed at 92.7 times the national average in College Station, and graduate teaching assistants, at 16.8 times the U.S. average. Both location quotients were among the highest in all metropolitan areas for these particular occupations. On the other hand, middle school teachers, except special and career/technical had a location quotient of 1.0 in College Station, indicating that this occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Texas Workforce Commission.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the College Station-Bryan Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,300 establishments with a response rate of 67 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The College Station-Bryan Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Brazos, Burleson, and Robertson Counties in Texas.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southwest. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request . Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, College Station-Bryan, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Education, training, and library occupations	11,760	1.8	$32.59	$67,790
Architecture teachers, postsecondary	160	29.3	(6)	103,220
Agricultural sciences teachers, postsecondary	730	92.7	(6)	118,370
Biological science teachers, postsecondary	190	4.9	(6)	112,080
Chemistry teachers, postsecondary	110	6.8	(6)	133,600
Economics teachers, postsecondary	70	7.2	(6)	157,970
Health specialties teachers, postsecondary	230	1.6	(6)	116,350
Education teachers, postsecondary	200	4.4	(6)	101,450
Graduate teaching assistants	1,730	16.8	(6)	38,340
Recreation and fitness studies teachers, postsecondary	130	9.9	(6)	94,850
Vocational education teachers, postsecondary	(5)	(5)	26.58	55,290
Postsecondary teachers, all other	160	1.1	(6)	95,740
Preschool teachers, except special education	190	0.6	14.08	29,300
Kindergarten teachers, except special education	100	0.9	(6)	44,630
Elementary school teachers, except special education	1,200	1.1	(6)	46,560
Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education	490	1.0	(6)	47,530
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	900	1.2	(6)	48,360
Career/technical education teachers, secondary school	80	1.3	(6)	51,400
Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school	90	0.7	(6)	45,000
Special education teachers, middle school	30	0.5	(6)	47,620
Special education teachers, secondary school	40	0.4	(6)	47,070
Self-enrichment education teachers	140	0.8	18.02	37,480
Teachers and instructors, all other, except substitute teachers	580	2.6	(6)	30,380
Substitute teachers	660	1.4	10.76	22,390
Librarians	120	1.3	22.61	47,030
Library technicians	90	1.3	13.62	28,330
Instructional coordinators	170	1.6	28.91	60,140
Teacher assistants	840	0.9	(6)	21,310
Education, training, and library workers, all other	40	0.5	21.95	45,650
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the College Station-Bryan, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17780.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data. (5) Estimate not released. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.