Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

Across all occupations in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metropolitan area, the median wage is $60,690 a year ($29.18 an hour) and the mean $78,430, May 2025. That median is +19% against the US median of $50,980 and +6% against Oregon's $57,000. BLS counts 1,208,410 jobs in the area, which spans Oregon and Washington. The highest-paying occupation is orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric; the largest is fast food and counter workers.

All occupations: Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA vs Oregon and Washington and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA area, Oregon and Washington and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	Hourly	$17.88	$21.79	$29.18	$45.98	$65.83	$37.71	1,208,410
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	Annual	$37,200	$45,320	$60,690	$95,640	$136,920	$78,430	1,208,410
Oregon	Hourly	$17.15	$20.52	$27.40	$39.94	$62.27	$34.84	1,967,130
Oregon	Annual	$35,680	$42,690	$57,000	$83,070	$129,520	$72,460	1,967,130
Washington	Hourly	$18.59	$22.61	$30.28	$48.90	$73.86	$40.06	3,550,970
Washington	Annual	$38,670	$47,020	$62,990	$101,710	$153,630	$83,330	3,550,970
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.

674 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profiles: Oregon, Washington. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric	$524,350	$252.09	120
2	Chief Executives	$375,810	$180.68	690
3	Neurologists	$337,810	$162.41	70
4	Physicians, All Other	$333,860	$160.51	2,940
5	Family Medicine Physicians	$286,170	$137.58	700
6	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$269,700	$129.66	170
7	Dentists, All Other Specialists	$249,600	$120.00	**
8	Nurse Anesthetists	$246,070	$118.30	240
9	Podiatrists	$228,380	$109.80	110
10	Pediatricians, General	$212,660	$102.24	480
11	Dentists, General	$209,440	$100.69	990
12	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$206,220	$99.15	660
13	Computer and Information Systems Managers in Oregon	$183,720	$88.33	5,680
14	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$178,300	$85.72	**
15	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$178,260	$85.70	60
16	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$173,190	*	670
17	Marketing Managers	$172,610	$82.99	4,050
18	Physicists	$172,080	$82.73	50
19	Pharmacists	$168,830	$81.17	2,070
20	Compensation and Benefits Managers	$168,540	$81.03	180

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 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Fast Food and Counter Workers in Oregon	34,840	28.83	1.16	$35,620
2	Retail Salespersons in Oregon	28,230	23.36	0.93	$37,340
3	Stockers and Order Fillers in Oregon	26,750	22.14	1.21	$44,440
4	Registered Nurses in Oregon	24,220	20.05	0.92	$130,310
5	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Oregon	22,860	18.92	0.68	$45,570
6	General and Operations Managers in Oregon	21,070	17.44	0.77	$121,050
7	Cashiers in Oregon	20,150	16.68	0.84	$36,560
8	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Oregon	18,640	15.43	0.81	$46,100
9	Software Developers in Oregon	18,260	15.11	1.39	$156,000
10	Office Clerks, General in Oregon	15,920	13.17	0.83	$50,640
11	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Oregon	14,620	12.10	0.85	$41,170
12	Project Management Specialists in Oregon	14,440	11.95	1.74	$108,340
13	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Oregon	14,370	11.89	0.90	$63,800
14	Waiters and Waitresses in Oregon	13,910	11.51	0.79	$54,780
15	Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Oregon	13,510	11.18	1.02	$55,360
16	Cooks, Restaurant in Oregon	13,020	10.78	1.19	$45,200
17	Customer Service Representatives in Oregon	12,720	10.53	0.63	$48,650
18	Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Oregon	12,500	10.35	1.13	$45,280
19	Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks in Oregon	12,170	10.07	1.14	$57,040
20	Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other	11,120	9.20	23.68	$41,600

Most concentrated occupations in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

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	Semiconductor Processing Technicians	29.81	7,290	6.03	$62,810
2	Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other	23.68	11,120	9.20	$41,600
3	Directors, Religious Activities and Education	6.38	1,100	0.91	$46,110
4	Geography Teachers, Postsecondary	5.06	130	0.11	$103,470
5	Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners	4.94	220	0.18	$60,760
6	Psychologists, All Other	4.71	690	0.57	$86,680
7	Special Effects Artists and Animators	4.43	690	0.57	*
8	Acupuncturists	4.36	270	0.22	$67,210
9	Drafters, All Other	3.96	450	0.37	$62,610
10	Clergy	3.93	1,750	1.44	$65,710

Occupation groups in Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$136,440	$153,340	80,700	66.78	0.93
Computer and Mathematical	$126,120	$128,620	47,850	39.60	1.17
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$123,680	$136,680	64,540	53.41	0.85
Architecture and Engineering	$107,380	$122,450	35,670	29.52	1.75
Legal	$99,000	$124,230	9,650	7.99	0.95
Business and Financial Operations	$90,240	$100,290	92,070	76.19	1.12
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$86,680	$93,020	12,590	10.42	1.10
Construction and Extraction	$75,480	$82,040	57,870	47.89	1.16
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$68,620	$84,560	22,020	18.22	1.38
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$65,800	$72,770	42,280	34.99	0.89
Educational Instruction and Library	$65,530	$74,990	69,610	57.60	0.98
Community and Social Service	$62,890	$68,960	29,630	24.52	1.43
Protective Service	$54,550	$66,050	22,330	18.48	0.76
Office and Administrative Support	$52,840	$56,470	127,020	105.11	0.92
Production	$51,870	$57,860	67,410	55.78	1.01
Healthcare Support	$48,420	$51,480	51,440	42.57	0.84
Transportation and Material Moving	$47,340	$53,700	104,320	86.33	0.98
Sales and Related	$45,680	$58,990	96,000	79.44	0.92
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$44,620	$46,930	31,750	26.28	0.90
Personal Care and Service	$41,600	$47,510	33,470	27.70	1.32
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$39,080	$45,020	107,090	88.62	1.01
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$39,060	$45,150	3,090	2.56	0.91

Every occupation in Oregon and Washington, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profiles. All 674 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 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA estimates (area 38900).

*: Wage estimate not available.
**: Employment 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 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA 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.
The area spans Oregon and Washington; its figures are the whole MSA, as BLS publishes them, under the primary state Oregon.