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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Exercise Trainers And Group Fitness Instructors Salary: San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA vs Waterbury-Shelton, CT

Exercise Trainers And Group Fitness Instructors earn a median of $48,610 in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA and $61,860 in Waterbury-Shelton, CT. That is a nominal gap of $13,250 (-21.4%), with Waterbury-Shelton, CT 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.

$48,610
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA median
$43,446 after COL
$61,860
Waterbury-Shelton, CT median
$61,998 after COL
-21.4%
Nominal gap
Waterbury-Shelton, CT leads
-29.9%
Adjusted gap
Waterbury-Shelton, CT leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Waterbury-Shelton, CT pays $13,250 more per year than San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors, a gap of +21.4%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Waterbury-Shelton, CT still comes out ahead, with roughly $18,552 of extra purchasing power (+29.9% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Exercise Trainers And Group Fitness Instructors

San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

Median salary
$48,610
Mean salary
$56,690
Employment
4,400
Location quotient
1.46
Jobs per 1,000
2.9
COL-adjusted median
$43,446
Regional Price Parity
111.9%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Exercise Trainers And Group Fitness Instructors page for San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA →

Exercise Trainers And Group Fitness Instructors

Waterbury-Shelton, CT

Median salary
$61,860
Mean salary
$61,320
Employment
220
Location quotient
0.69
Jobs per 1,000
1.4
COL-adjusted median
$61,998
Regional Price Parity
99.8%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Exercise Trainers And Group Fitness Instructors page for Waterbury-Shelton, CT →

Related pages

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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.