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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines Salary: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA vs San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines earn a median of $82,640 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA and $92,270 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. That is a nominal gap of $9,630 (-10.4%), with San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, 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.

$82,640
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA median
$72,768 after COL
$92,270
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA median
$79,809 after COL
-10.4%
Nominal gap
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA leads
-8.8%
Adjusted gap
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA pays $9,630 more per year than Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA for mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines, a gap of +10.4%.

After adjusting for cost of living, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA still comes out ahead, with roughly $7,041 of extra purchasing power (+8.8% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

Median salary
$82,640
Mean salary
$93,080
Employment
7,900
Location quotient
1.09
Jobs per 1,000
1.3
COL-adjusted median
$72,768
Regional Price Parity
113.6%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines page for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA →

Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

Median salary
$92,270
Mean salary
$97,080
Employment
2,520
Location quotient
0.89
Jobs per 1,000
1.0
COL-adjusted median
$79,809
Regional Price Parity
115.6%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines page for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into mobile heavy equipment mechanics, except engines 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.