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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Automotive Service Technicians And Mechanics Salary: Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL vs San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Automotive Service Technicians And Mechanics earn a median of $48,410 in Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL and $77,260 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA. That is a nominal gap of $28,850 (-37.3%), with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 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.

$48,410
Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL median
$49,243 after COL
$77,260
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA median
$69,967 after COL
-37.3%
Nominal gap
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA leads
-29.6%
Adjusted gap
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA pays $28,850 more per year than Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL for automotive service technicians and mechanics, a gap of +37.3%.

After adjusting for cost of living, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA still comes out ahead, with roughly $20,724 of extra purchasing power (+29.6% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for automotive service technicians and mechanics in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Automotive Service Technicians And Mechanics

Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL

Median salary
$48,410
Mean salary
$50,850
Employment
320
Location quotient
1.26
Jobs per 1,000
5.6
COL-adjusted median
$49,243
Regional Price Parity
98.3%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Automotive Service Technicians And Mechanics page for Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL →

Automotive Service Technicians And Mechanics

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Median salary
$77,260
Mean salary
$81,620
Employment
3,080
Location quotient
0.61
Jobs per 1,000
2.7
COL-adjusted median
$69,967
Regional Price Parity
110.4%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Automotive Service Technicians And Mechanics page for San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into automotive service technicians and mechanics 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.