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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Education Administrators, All Other Salary: Fresno, CA vs Modesto, CA

Education Administrators, All Other earn a median of $103,100 in Fresno, CA and $149,720 in Modesto, CA. That is a nominal gap of $46,620 (-31.1%), with Modesto, 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.

$103,100
Fresno, CA median
$100,922 after COL
$149,720
Modesto, CA median
$143,812 after COL
-31.1%
Nominal gap
Modesto, CA leads
-29.8%
Adjusted gap
Modesto, CA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Modesto, CA pays $46,620 more per year than Fresno, CA for education administrators, all other, a gap of +31.1%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Modesto, CA still comes out ahead, with roughly $42,890 of extra purchasing power (+29.8% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for education administrators, all other in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Education Administrators, All Other

Fresno, CA

Median salary
$103,100
Mean salary
$111,250
Employment
180
Location quotient
1.12
Jobs per 1,000
0.4
COL-adjusted median
$100,922
Regional Price Parity
102.2%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Education Administrators, All Other page for Fresno, CA →

Education Administrators, All Other

Modesto, CA

Median salary
$149,720
Mean salary
$140,160
Employment
120
Location quotient
1.73
Jobs per 1,000
0.6
COL-adjusted median
$143,812
Regional Price Parity
104.1%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Education Administrators, All Other page for Modesto, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into education administrators, all other 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.