Changing Compensation Costs in the Boston Metropolitan Area — September 2024

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 1.7 percent in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT Combined Statistical Area (CSA) for the year ended September 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations William J. Sibley noted that one year ago, Boston experienced an annual gain of 4.1 percent in compensation costs. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Nationwide, compensation costs rose 3.6 percent in September 2024.

Locally, wages and salaries, the largest component of compensation costs, advanced at a 1.6-percent pace for the 12-month period ended September 2024. (See chart 2.) Nationwide, wages and salaries rose 3.8 percent over the same period.

Boston is 1 of 15 metropolitan areas in the United States and 1 of 3 areas in the Northeast region of the country for which locality compensation cost data are available. Among these 15 largest areas, over-the-year percentage changes in compensation costs ranged from 5.3 percent in San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland to 1.7 percent in Boston in September 2024; for wages and salaries, Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs registered the largest increase (5.6 percent), and Boston registered the smallest (1.6 percent). (See chart 3.)

The annual increase in compensation costs in Boston was 1.7 percent in September 2024, compared to 3.0 percent in New York-Newark and 3.2 percent in Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, the two other metropolitan areas in the Northeast. Boston's 1.6-percent gain in wages and salaries over this 12-month period compared to 3.0 percent in New York and 3.4 percent in Philadelphia. (See table 2.)

The Employment Cost Index for December 2024 is scheduled to be released on Friday, January 31, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

Locality compensation costs are part of the national Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures quarterly changes in compensation costs (wages and salaries and employer costs for employee benefits) free from the influence of employment shifts among occupations and industries. More information can be found in the national Employment Cost Index Technical Note. For information on survey concepts, coverage, methods, nonresponse adjustment, and imputation see the National Compensation Measures Handbook of Methods.

In addition to the data presented here, ECI national data by industry, occupational group, and union status, as well as data for civilian, private, and state and local government employees, are available on the Employment Cost Index website. The national Employment Cost Index Summary is also available online. Additional information for regions, states, and local areas may be accessed via our Northeast Information Office regional homepage.

The substate area data published in this news release reflect the Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 13-01, dated February 28, 2013. See the Classification Systems Used by the National Compensation Survey for more information on available geographies.

Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT CSA includes Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester Counties in Massachusetts; Bristol, Kent, Newport, Providence, and Washington Counties in Rhode Island; Belknap, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire; and Windham County in Connecticut.

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 Cost Index for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry workers, United States, Northeast Census region, and the Boston area, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Total compensation	Wages and salaries
12-month percent changes for period ended-	12-month percent changes for period ended-
Mar.	Jun.	Sep.	Dec.	Mar.	Jun.	Sep.	Dec.
United States
2020	2.8	2.7	2.4	2.6	3.3	2.9	2.7	2.8
2021	2.8	3.1	4.1	4.4	3.0	3.5	4.6	5.0
2022	4.8	5.5	5.2	5.1	5.0	5.7	5.2	5.1
2023	4.8	4.5	4.3	4.1	5.1	4.6	4.5	4.3
2024	4.1	3.9	3.6	4.3	4.1	3.8
Northeast
2020	2.6	2.6	2.2	2.3	3.1	2.8	2.4	2.4
2021	3.1	2.7	3.7	3.9	3.4	3.2	4.5	4.6
2022	4.2	5.1	4.8	4.9	4.4	5.1	4.6	4.9
2023	4.5	4.4	4.3	3.8	4.4	4.5	4.4	3.9
2024	3.8	3.5	3.2	3.9	3.7	3.4
Boston-Worcester-Providence
2020	3.5	4.0	3.4	3.3	4.0	4.3	3.7	3.2
2021	2.9	3.1	3.7	4.2	2.9	3.6	4.2	4.8
2022	5.6	5.8	5.6	5.5	6.1	5.8	5.7	5.8
2023	3.9	3.8	4.1	3.1	4.0	4.2	4.7	3.4
2024	3.2	3.1	1.7	3.5	3.3	1.6

Table 2. Employment Cost Index for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry workers, United States, Census regions, and localities, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Total compensation	Wages and salaries
12-month percent changes for period ended-	12-month percent changes for period ended-
Sep. 2023	Jun. 2024	Sep. 2024	Sep. 2023	Jun. 2024	Sep. 2024
United States	4.3	3.9	3.6	4.5	4.1	3.8
Northeast	4.3	3.5	3.2	4.4	3.7	3.4
Boston-Worcester-Providence	4.1	3.1	1.7	4.7	3.3	1.6
New York-Newark	4.7	3.8	3.0	4.8	4.0	3.0
Philadelphia-Reading-Camden	5.2	3.2	3.2	5.5	3.2	3.4
South	4.6	3.7	3.3	4.8	3.9	3.4
Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs	4.0	4.4	4.8	4.6	5.4	5.6
Dallas-Fort Worth	3.6	3.9	3.8	3.8	3.9	3.7
Houston-The Woodlands	4.3	5.2	4.6	3.9	5.1	4.4
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie	5.2	5.6	2.2	4.9	6.6	2.4
Washington-Baltimore-Arlington	5.2	4.3	3.6	5.5	4.9	4.0
Midwest	3.8	3.6	3.6	3.9	3.7	3.7
Chicago-Naperville	4.2	3.7	3.1	4.1	3.5	3.1
Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor	3.7	5.4	5.0	4.1	4.6	4.3
Minneapolis-St. Paul	3.6	4.2	4.1	3.6	4.3	4.2
West	4.4	4.6	4.4	4.7	4.9	4.6
Los Angeles-Long Beach	4.6	4.3	4.6	4.9	4.5	4.8
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale	3.5	3.3	3.3	3.8	3.3	3.4
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland	3.3	4.8	5.3	3.5	5.2	5.4
Seattle-Tacoma	4.3	4.3	4.4	4.9	4.6	4.7

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