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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Loan Interviewers And Clerks Salary: Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA vs Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

Loan Interviewers And Clerks earn a median of $51,470 in Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA and $61,330 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA. That is a nominal gap of $9,860 (-16.1%), with Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, 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.

$51,470
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA median
$56,128 after COL
$61,330
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA median
$55,186 after COL
-16.1%
Nominal gap
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA leads
+1.7%
Adjusted gap
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA pays $9,860 more per year than Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA for loan interviewers and clerks, a gap of +16.1%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $942 more in national-price-level terms (a +1.7% real gap). The higher nominal wage in the other location is eaten up by higher local prices.

Full breakdown by location

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

Loan Interviewers And Clerks

Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA

Median salary
$51,470
Mean salary
$54,630
Employment
960
Location quotient
2.11
Jobs per 1,000
2.4
COL-adjusted median
$56,128
Regional Price Parity
91.7%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Loan Interviewers And Clerks page for Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA →

Loan Interviewers And Clerks

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

Median salary
$61,330
Mean salary
$65,280
Employment
1,570
Location quotient
0.67
Jobs per 1,000
0.8
COL-adjusted median
$55,186
Regional Price Parity
111.1%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Loan Interviewers And Clerks page for Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA →

Related pages

Keep digging into loan interviewers and clerks 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.