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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Occupational Health And Safety Technicians Salary: Washington vs New Mexico

Occupational Health And Safety Technicians earn a median of $80,270 in Washington and $75,920 in New Mexico. That is a nominal gap of $4,350 (+5.7%), with Washington 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.

$80,270
Washington median
$75,010 after COL
$75,920
New Mexico median
$82,332 after COL
+5.7%
Nominal gap
Washington leads
-8.9%
Adjusted gap
New Mexico leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Washington pays $4,350 more per year than New Mexico for occupational health and safety technicians, a gap of +5.7%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. New Mexico actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $7,322 more in national-price-level terms (a +8.9% 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

Washington

Median salary
$80,270
Mean salary
$82,320
Employment
600
Location quotient
0.82
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$75,010
Regional Price Parity
107.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Occupational Health And Safety Technicians page for Washington →

Occupational Health And Safety Technicians

New Mexico

Median salary
$75,920
Mean salary
$80,550
Employment
410
Location quotient
2.34
Jobs per 1,000
0.5
COL-adjusted median
$82,332
Regional Price Parity
92.2%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Occupational Health And Safety Technicians page for New Mexico →

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 state specializes in.