Workers in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.63 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($60.52), healthcare practitioners and technical ($56.93), and architecture and engineering ($42.81). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.72), personal care and service ($16.15), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.70). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the La Crosse area included office and administrative support (12.0 percent), transportation and material moving (10.4 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.7 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.8 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group-office and administrative support-was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. La Crosse had 8,980 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.0 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.63, 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 (1,280) and office clerks, general (1,150). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $31.78 and $29.82, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($15.10) and couriers and messengers ($16.50). (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_29100.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 La Crosse area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, loan interviewers and clerks were employed at 1.9 times the national rate in La Crosse, and tellers, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in La Crosse, 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 Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development.

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 La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,142 establishments with a response rate of 70 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 La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Houston County MN, and La Crosse County, WI.

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, La Crosse metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment	Mean wages ($)
Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	8,980	1.0	21.63	44,990
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	600	0.8	31.78	66,100
Bill and account collectors	100	1.0	20.13	41,880
Billing and posting clerks	280	1.3	22.87	47,570
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	760	1.0	22.43	46,650
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	90	1.2	22.97	47,790
Procurement clerks	40	1.3	21.79	45,330
Tellers	290	1.7	17.97	37,380
Court, municipal, and license clerks	50	0.6	23.09	48,020
Customer service representatives	1,280	0.9	20.48	42,600
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	50	0.7	24.02	49,960
File clerks	40	1.0	20.09	41,780
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	160	1.3	15.10	31,420
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	50	0.6	20.81	43,270
Library assistants, clerical	40	1.0	18.39	38,240
Loan interviewers and clerks	190	1.9	21.19	44,080
New accounts clerks	30	1.6	20.92	43,510
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	60	1.3	20.51	42,660
Receptionists and information clerks	710	1.4	18.11	37,660
Information and record clerks, all other	70	0.9	17.79	36,990
Couriers and messengers	60	1.7	16.50	34,330
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	140	1.4	25.10	52,200
Postal service mail carriers	150	0.9	27.97	58,170
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	300	1.5	23.97	49,870
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	300	0.7	20.63	42,910
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	110	0.5	29.82	62,020
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	430	1.2	21.40	44,520
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	790	0.9	20.80	43,250
Data entry keyers	80	1.1	18.11	37,680
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	140	1.1	22.16	46,080
Office clerks, general	1,150	0.9	19.30	40,150
Office and administrative support workers, all other	200	2.4	22.45	46,690
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29100.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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