Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC

Across all occupations in the Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC metropolitan area, the median wage is $42,920 a year ($20.64 an hour) and the mean $55,140, May 2025. That median is −16% against the US median of $50,980 and −11% against North Carolina's $47,970. BLS counts 42,900 jobs in the area. The highest-paying occupation is physicians, all other; the largest is registered nurses.

All occupations: Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC vs North Carolina and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC area, North Carolina and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC	Hourly	$12.93	$15.00	$20.64	$29.88	$47.07	$26.51	42,900
Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC	Annual	$26,900	$31,210	$42,920	$62,150	$97,900	$55,140	42,900
North Carolina	Hourly	$13.74	$17.32	$23.06	$36.35	$57.52	$30.91	4,941,820
North Carolina	Annual	$28,580	$36,030	$47,970	$75,610	$119,640	$64,290	4,941,820
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

199 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profile: North Carolina. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Physicians, All Other	$338,170	$162.58	240
2	Natural Sciences Managers	$168,850	$81.18	30
3	Marketing Managers	$148,630	$71.46	30
4	Financial Managers in North Carolina	$146,830	$70.59	110
5	Computer and Information Systems Managers in North Carolina	$137,460	$66.09	70
6	Pharmacists	$132,170	$63.54	90
7	Physician Assistants	$131,770	$63.35	130
8	Software Developers in North Carolina	$130,240	$62.62	200
9	Veterinarians	$126,190	$60.67	50
10	Managers, All Other in North Carolina	$124,930	$60.06	110
11	Nurse Practitioners	$124,520	$59.87	110
12	Human Resources Managers	$124,300	$59.76	30
13	Computer Network Architects	$116,420	$55.97	60
14	Construction Managers	$109,230	$52.52	100
15	Sales Managers in North Carolina	$107,810	$51.83	90
16	Medical and Health Services Managers	$106,850	$51.37	150
17	Computer Occupations, All Other	$106,200	$51.06	70
18	Lawyers in North Carolina	$105,510	$50.73	80
19	Data Scientists	$102,740	$49.40	40
20	Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers	$101,140	$48.62	40

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Registered Nurses in North Carolina	1,510	35.23	1.62	$81,520
2	Retail Salespersons in North Carolina	1,370	32.02	1.28	$30,020
3	Cashiers in North Carolina	1,090	25.44	1.28	$27,710
4	Waiters and Waitresses in North Carolina	1,040	24.28	1.66	$34,080
5	Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in North Carolina	970	22.50	3.64	$37,920
6	Nursing Assistants in North Carolina	950	22.22	2.38	$36,930
6	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in North Carolina	950	22.26	1.17	$31,210
8	Fast Food and Counter Workers in North Carolina	880	20.43	0.82	$27,200
9	Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers in North Carolina	750	17.45	2.85	$35,590
10	Cooks, Fast Food in North Carolina	730	16.92	4.10	$26,610
11	Cooks, Restaurant in North Carolina	670	15.69	1.73	$35,690
11	Customer Service Representatives in North Carolina	670	15.63	0.94	$34,590
11	Stockers and Order Fillers in North Carolina	670	15.69	0.86	$33,150
14	Amusement and Recreation Attendants	640	14.87	5.81	$23,190
15	Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in North Carolina	570	13.38	2.42	$29,700
16	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in North Carolina	560	13.15	0.47	$28,850
17	Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in North Carolina	530	12.29	1.38	$50,540
18	General and Operations Managers in North Carolina	500	11.60	0.51	$94,400
19	Office Clerks, General in North Carolina	490	11.52	0.73	$39,250
20	First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers in North Carolina	450	10.53	1.34	$44,680

Most concentrated occupations in Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Amusement and Recreation Attendants	5.81	640	14.87	$23,190
2	Sewing Machine Operators	4.55	130	3.07	$28,560
3	Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other	4.30	100	2.34	$30,200
4	Cooks, Fast Food in North Carolina	4.10	730	16.92	$26,610
5	First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers	3.98	140	3.34	$54,060
6	Surgical Technologists	3.89	130	2.94	$56,510
7	Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in North Carolina	3.64	970	22.50	$37,920
8	Food Servers, Nonrestaurant	3.11	250	5.87	$30,790
9	Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers	2.92	100	2.38	$35,780
10	Physician Assistants	2.87	130	2.99	$131,770

Occupation groups in Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$99,000	$117,120	2,010	46.86	0.65
Computer and Mathematical	$91,470	$95,840	950	22.13	0.65
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$81,520	$99,330	4,600	107.25	1.70
Architecture and Engineering	$77,970	$86,740	380	8.78	0.52
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$74,190	$81,890	210	4.89	0.52
Business and Financial Operations	$70,810	$80,170	2,070	48.20	0.71
Legal	$64,620	$82,420	210	4.87	0.58
Community and Social Service	$51,320	$52,870	580	13.53	0.79
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$50,410	$57,770	1,560	36.26	0.93
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$48,910	$57,050	350	8.22	0.62
Educational Instruction and Library	$47,190	$49,310	2,460	57.35	0.98
Construction and Extraction	$46,010	$50,810	1,450	33.73	0.82
Protective Service	$44,430	$46,520	960	22.47	0.93
Office and Administrative Support	$40,980	$43,200	4,780	111.44	0.98
Healthcare Support	$36,690	$38,080	2,420	56.38	1.11
Production	$35,900	$39,430	1,570	36.50	0.66
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$34,970	$36,300	2,020	47.14	1.61
Transportation and Material Moving	$34,440	$37,970	2,930	68.24	0.78
Sales and Related	$33,920	$43,550	4,060	94.73	1.10
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$29,700	$33,810	5,570	129.77	1.47
Personal Care and Service	$28,950	$32,800	1,700	39.64	1.89
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	–	–	–	–	–

Every occupation in North Carolina, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profile. All 199 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC estimates (area 38240).

*: Wage estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.