Occupational Employment and Wages in Buffalo Cheektowaga Niagara Falls — May 2023

Workers in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $30.36 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($65.70), legal ($49.65), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($47.27). Lower paying occupations included healthcare support ($18.59), food preparation and serving related ($18.72), and personal care and service ($18.98). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Buffalo area included office and administrative support (13.5 percent), food preparation and serving related (8.9 percent), and sales and related (8.5 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.9 percent); legal (1.0 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Buffalo metropolitan area, May 2023

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment	Mean hourly wage ($)
United States	Buffalo	United States	Buffalo
All occupations	100.0	100.0	31.48	30.36
Management occupations	6.9	5.6	66.23	65.70
Business and financial operations occupations	6.6	6.5	43.55	40.63
Computer and mathematical occupations	3.4	2.2	54.39	46.88
Architecture and engineering occupations	1.7	1.6	47.64	43.02
Life, physical, and social science occupations	0.9	0.9	42.24	36.47
Community and social service occupations	1.6	1.9	28.36	28.15
Legal occupations	0.8	1.0	64.34	49.65
Educational instruction and library occupations	5.8	7.0	31.92	31.63
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	1.4	1.1	36.31	33.10
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	6.1	7.4	49.07	47.27
Healthcare support occupations	4.7	5.1	18.37	18.59
Protective service occupations	2.3	2.2	27.74	29.07
Food preparation and serving related occupations	8.7	8.9	16.58	18.72
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	2.9	3.1	18.43	19.00
Personal care and service occupations	2.0	1.9	18.48	18.98
Sales and related occupations	8.8	8.5	25.62	25.74
Office and administrative support occupations	12.2	13.5	23.05	23.37
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	0.3	(1)	19.22	18.93
Construction and extraction occupations	4.1	3.6	29.57	30.85
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	3.9	3.9	28.13	27.19
Production occupations	5.8	6.7	22.90	23.80
Transportation and material moving occupations	9.1	7.4	22.45	21.39
Footnotes: (1) Indicates a value of less than 0.05 percent.

One occupational group-office and administrative support-was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Buffalo had 71,050 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 13.5 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.37, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (10,600), office clerks, general (6,940), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (6,840). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants ($34.78) and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers ($33.27). (See chart 1.) At the lower end of the wage scale were library assistants, clerical ($16.45) and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($16.80). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_15380.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 Buffalo area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, word processors and typists were employed at 10.5 times the national rate in Buffalo, and bill and account collectors, at 3.1 times the U.S. average. Medical secretaries and administrative assistants had a location quotient of 1.0 in Buffalo, indicating that this particular occupation's local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the New York State Department of Labor.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,524 establishments with a response rate of 75 percent.

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 Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Erie County and Niagara County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for office and administrative support occupations, Buffalo metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment	Mean wages ($)
Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	71,050	1.1	23.37	48,610
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	4,940	1.0	33.27	69,200
Switchboard operators, including answering service	130	0.9	19.79	41,170
Bill and account collectors	2,050	3.1	20.47	42,590
Billing and posting clerks	2,150	1.4	21.90	45,540
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	6,120	1.2	23.67	49,230
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	770	1.4	25.65	53,360
Procurement clerks	170	0.8	24.01	49,940
Tellers	850	0.7	18.54	38,550
Financial clerks, all other	240	1.5	22.67	47,150
Brokerage clerks	380	2.3	28.33	58,930
Correspondence clerks	60	3.6	20.96	43,600
Court, municipal, and license clerks	680	1.2	25.63	53,300
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	200	4.0	25.79	53,630
Customer service representatives	10,600	1.1	22.08	45,920
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	950	1.8	26.73	55,590
File clerks	240	0.8	19.14	39,820
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	700	0.8	16.80	34,950
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	620	1.1	22.10	45,970
Library assistants, clerical	350	1.2	16.45	34,220
Loan interviewers and clerks	510	0.7	25.90	53,870
New accounts clerks	220	1.6	22.11	45,980
Order clerks	370	1.2	21.03	43,750
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	430	1.2	23.76	49,420
Receptionists and information clerks	4,440	1.3	17.99	37,430
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	100	0.2	19.83	41,240
Information and record clerks, all other	210	0.4	24.22	50,380
Cargo and freight agents	880	2.4	21.90	45,540
Couriers and messengers	450	1.8	18.09	37,620
Public safety telecommunicators	360	1.1	26.31	54,720
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	460	0.7	23.74	49,370
Meter readers, utilities	70	1.1	23.50	48,870
Postal service clerks	290	1.1	28.08	58,410
Postal service mail carriers	1,380	1.2	28.39	59,050
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	400	1.0	25.97	54,020
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	2,500	1.8	26.10	54,290
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	2,810	1.0	21.04	43,750
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	120	0.7	20.69	43,040
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	2,920	1.7	34.78	72,350
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	500	0.9	25.09	52,180
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	2,560	1.0	21.01	43,700
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	6,840	1.1	21.82	45,390
Data entry keyers	430	0.8	19.76	41,100
Word processors and typists	1,350	10.5	21.46	44,630
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	540	0.6	25.63	53,300
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	360	1.6	19.42	40,390
Office clerks, general	6,940	0.8	20.68	43,000
Office machine operators, except computer	180	1.8	20.43	42,490
Office and administrative support workers, all other	150	0.3	23.32	48,500
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_15380.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.

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