Air Traffic Controller salary in New York: $144,960 median.
Pay for air traffic controllers across New York at every point of the range, against the U.S., the states it borders and the state's metro areas.
Air Traffic Controllers in New York earned a median annual wage of $144,960 in May 2025, compared with $148,080 nationally, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey (SOC 53-2021). That is 2% below the U.S. median; the middle half of New York workers in this occupation earned between $106,200 and $216,570.
- New York median
- $144,960
- $69.69 an hour
- U.S. median
- $148,080
- -2% in New York
- Rank among states
- 16 of 43
- states with a published median
- Employed in New York
- 1,150
- location quotient 0.82
Advice For a pay conversation in New York, the state median ($144,960) is the sourced middle of the market; the 25th–75th percentile band ($106,200–$216,570) is where half of the state's workers in this occupation fall. Experience, employer, metro and specialty move individual offers within and beyond that band.
New York vs the U.S. at every point of the range
Data Annual wages at five points of the pay distribution, SOC 53-2021, BLS May 2025.
| Point in the pay range | New York | United States | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $74,320 | $78,420 | -5% |
| 25th percentile | $106,200 | $104,520 | +2% |
| Median | $144,960 | $148,080 | -2% |
| 75th percentile | $216,570 | $190,570 | +14% |
| 90th percentile | $225,680 | $215,610 | +5% |
Data The local range is shifted unevenly: the bottom and top move in opposite directions from the national range (-5% at the 10th percentile, +5% at the 90th). Locally, the 90th-percentile wage is 3.04 times the 10th-percentile wage, versus 2.75 times nationally, so pay is more spread out than it is nationally.
How common the job is in New York
Data BLS location quotient: the occupation's share of state employment divided by its share of U.S. employment.
Data The BLS location quotient for this occupation in New York is 0.82, so it is less concentrated than nationally (1.00 = the same share as nationally). That is about 0.1 jobs per 1,000 jobs in the state.
New York vs the states it borders
Data Same occupation, same BLS release. A higher median elsewhere is not a job offer; cost of living differs.
| State | Median annual wage | vs New York | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $144,960 | 1,150 | |
| Connecticut | $140,940 | -3% | not published |
| Pennsylvania | $132,350 | -9% | 460 |
| New Jersey | $132,230 | -9% | 190 |
| Massachusetts | $125,060 | -14% | 120 |
| Vermont | $109,140 | -25% | 30 |
Where air traffic controllers earn the highest medians
Data Highest state medians among the 43 of the 50 states and DC with a published median, BLS May 2025. New York ranks 16.
See every state on the national Air Traffic Controller salary page.
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How this page is built
BLS OEWS May 2025 state estimates for New York and national estimates for SOC 53-2021 (Air Traffic Controllers). The pay ladder compares the same five published percentiles; the difference column is the local value minus the U.S. value, divided by the U.S. value. Ranks compare published state medians across the 50 states and DC. Employment counts people working in the occupation (excluding the self-employed), not job openings. BLS publishes sampling error for these estimates: the employment estimate has a relative standard error of 1.4%. Lower is more precise; BLS does not publish a standard error for the median itself. Searches this page answers include “air traffic controller salary new york”, “how much do air traffic controllers make in new york”, “air traffic controller salary ny” (Ahrefs, U.S.).
- Cost of living: wages are not adjusted for local prices.
- Pay at a specific employer, in one city, or for self-employed workers.
- Local outlook: BLS projections are national.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 state and national estimates (2018 SOC), public domain.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
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