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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Refuse And Recyclable Material Collectors Salary: Reno, NV vs Napa, CA

Refuse And Recyclable Material Collectors earn a median of $65,440 in Reno, NV and $70,690 in Napa, CA. That is a nominal gap of $5,250 (-7.4%), with Napa, 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.

$65,440
Reno, NV median
$64,783 after COL
$70,690
Napa, CA median
$62,805 after COL
-7.4%
Nominal gap
Napa, CA leads
+3.1%
Adjusted gap
Reno, NV leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Napa, CA pays $5,250 more per year than Reno, NV for refuse and recyclable material collectors, a gap of +7.4%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Reno, NV actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $1,978 more in national-price-level terms (a +3.1% 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 refuse and recyclable material collectors in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Refuse And Recyclable Material Collectors

Reno, NV

Median salary
$65,440
Mean salary
$67,080
Employment
190
Location quotient
0.77
Jobs per 1,000
0.7
COL-adjusted median
$64,783
Regional Price Parity
101.0%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Refuse And Recyclable Material Collectors page for Reno, NV →

Refuse And Recyclable Material Collectors

Napa, CA

Median salary
$70,690
Mean salary
$67,550
Employment
100
Location quotient
1.43
Jobs per 1,000
1.3
COL-adjusted median
$62,805
Regional Price Parity
112.6%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Refuse And Recyclable Material Collectors page for Napa, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into refuse and recyclable material collectors 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.