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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Athletes And Sports Competitors Salary: Pittsburgh, PA vs Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN

Athletes And Sports Competitors earn a median of $46,860 in Pittsburgh, PA and $210,860 in Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN. That is a nominal gap of $164,000 (-77.8%), with Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$46,860
Pittsburgh, PA median
$49,498 after COL
$210,860
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN median
$220,344 after COL
-77.8%
Nominal gap
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN leads
-77.5%
Adjusted gap
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN pays $164,000 more per year than Pittsburgh, PA for athletes and sports competitors, a gap of +77.8%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN still comes out ahead, with roughly $170,846 of extra purchasing power (+77.5% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for athletes and sports competitors in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Athletes And Sports Competitors

Pittsburgh, PA

Median salary
$46,860
Mean salary
$68,600
Employment
80
Location quotient
0.75
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$49,498
Regional Price Parity
94.7%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Athletes And Sports Competitors page for Pittsburgh, PA →

Athletes And Sports Competitors

Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN

Median salary
$210,860
Mean salary
$178,040
Employment
70
Location quotient
0.72
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$220,344
Regional Price Parity
95.7%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Athletes And Sports Competitors page for Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN →

Related pages

Keep digging into athletes and sports competitors from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a metro specializes in.