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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Occupational Health And Safety Technicians Salary: Madison, WI vs San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Occupational Health And Safety Technicians earn a median of $76,720 in Madison, WI and $86,190 in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA. That is a nominal gap of $9,470 (-11.0%), with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, 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.

$76,720
Madison, WI median
$78,859 after COL
$86,190
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA median
$78,054 after COL
-11.0%
Nominal gap
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA leads
+1.0%
Adjusted gap
Madison, WI leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA pays $9,470 more per year than Madison, WI for occupational health and safety technicians, a gap of +11.0%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Madison, WI actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $805 more in national-price-level terms (a +1.0% 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 occupational health and safety technicians in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Occupational Health And Safety Technicians

Madison, WI

Median salary
$76,720
Mean salary
$82,140
Employment
80
Location quotient
1.01
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$78,859
Regional Price Parity
97.3%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Occupational Health And Safety Technicians page for Madison, WI →

Occupational Health And Safety Technicians

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Median salary
$86,190
Mean salary
$91,480
Employment
200
Location quotient
0.85
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$78,054
Regional Price Parity
110.4%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Occupational Health And Safety Technicians page for San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into occupational health and safety technicians 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.