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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Engineering Technologists And Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other Salary: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA vs Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA

Engineering Technologists And Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other earn a median of $82,780 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA and $103,850 in Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA. That is a nominal gap of $21,070 (-20.3%), with Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA 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.

$82,780
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA median
$74,966 after COL
$103,850
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA median
$98,336 after COL
-20.3%
Nominal gap
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA leads
-23.8%
Adjusted gap
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA pays $21,070 more per year than San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA for engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other, a gap of +20.3%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA still comes out ahead, with roughly $23,370 of extra purchasing power (+23.8% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Engineering Technologists And Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Median salary
$82,780
Mean salary
$93,350
Employment
510
Location quotient
1.07
Jobs per 1,000
0.4
COL-adjusted median
$74,966
Regional Price Parity
110.4%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Engineering Technologists And Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other page for San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA →

Engineering Technologists And Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other

Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA

Median salary
$103,850
Mean salary
$103,820
Employment
1,160
Location quotient
29.77
Jobs per 1,000
12.4
COL-adjusted median
$98,336
Regional Price Parity
105.6%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Engineering Technologists And Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other page for Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA →

Related pages

Keep digging into engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, 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.