Average salary in North Carolina: $64,290 a year
The mean annual wage across every job BLS counts in North Carolina, with the median, the pay spread, the job groups and the occupations behind it.
The average salary in North Carolina is $64,290 a year ($30.91 an hour): that is the mean annual wage across 4,941,820 jobs in the BLS May 2025 survey. The median is $47,970 ($23.06 an hour), so half of those jobs paid less and half paid more. The mean sits above the median because a smaller number of very high wages pulls it up.
How North Carolina compares with the United States
North Carolina's mean salary is $5,480 (7.9%) below the U.S. figure of $69,770; its median is $3,010 (5.9%) below the U.S. figure of $50,980. Among the 50 states and DC, North Carolina ranks 29th by mean salary and 36th by median salary (1 = highest; calculated from the BLS figures).
| Measure | North Carolina | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Mean (average) salary | $64,290 | $69,770 |
| Median salary | $47,970 | $50,980 |
| Mean hourly wage | $30.91 | $33.54 |
| Median hourly wage | $23.06 | $24.51 |
| Jobs counted | 4,941,820 | 155,495,730 |
Prices matter as much as pay. BEA's regional price parity for North Carolina in 2024 is 94.3, where the United States = 100: overall prices there were about 5.7% below the national price level. A salary goes further where the index is lower.
What jobs in North Carolina pay, from low to high
One job in ten in North Carolina paid less than $28,580 a year, and one in ten paid more than $119,640. A quarter paid less than $36,030; a quarter paid more than $75,610.
| Area | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | $28,580 | $36,030 | $47,970 | $75,610 | $119,640 |
| United States | $31,200 | $37,590 | $50,980 | $80,520 | $128,560 |
Pay by job group in North Carolina
The largest group in North Carolina is office and administrative support, with 536,920 jobs (11% of the total, calculated). The best-paid group by median is management ($124,390); the lowest-paid is food preparation and serving related ($29,820). Where BLS does not release a figure, the table says so.
| Job group | Jobs | Median salary | Mean (average) salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office and Administrative Support | 536,920 | $45,450 | $47,690 |
| Sales and Related | 483,760 | $37,380 | $54,440 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related | 452,410 | $29,820 | $33,640 |
| Transportation and Material Moving | 450,010 | $39,040 | $43,560 |
| Business and Financial Operations | 356,580 | $80,230 | $91,860 |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical | 327,500 | $81,270 | $100,480 |
| Production | 318,440 | $44,120 | $47,110 |
| Management | 303,040 | $124,390 | $140,910 |
| Educational Instruction and Library | 277,370 | $49,410 | $56,620 |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair | 202,630 | $56,550 | $58,930 |
| Construction and Extraction | 196,760 | $49,390 | $54,940 |
| Computer and Mathematical | 195,720 | $107,600 | $112,980 |
| Healthcare Support | 188,740 | $37,800 | $39,850 |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance | 137,290 | $36,070 | $37,330 |
| Protective Service | 115,740 | $46,300 | $51,100 |
| Personal Care and Service | 94,100 | $33,670 | $38,190 |
| Architecture and Engineering | 79,670 | $91,360 | $97,700 |
| Community and Social Service | 70,470 | $54,530 | $56,780 |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media | 61,150 | $55,650 | $70,250 |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science | 54,090 | $78,850 | $87,820 |
| Legal | 32,500 | $77,950 | $114,310 |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry | 6,940 | $37,770 | $42,260 |
The occupations with the most jobs in North Carolina
10 of the 12 largest occupations in North Carolina with a published annual median paid a median below the all-jobs median of $47,970 (calculated from the BLS figures).
| Occupation | Jobs | Median salary |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Salespersons | 127,540 | $31,370 |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 116,720 | $38,230 |
| Registered Nurses | 111,120 | $84,350 |
| Cashiers | 106,440 | $28,880 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 92,230 | $28,570 |
| Customer Service Representatives | 89,510 | $40,240 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 87,510 | $35,950 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | 81,980 | $27,190 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 71,940 | $32,150 |
| Office Clerks, General | 67,930 | $41,770 |
| Nursing Assistants | 64,010 | $38,460 |
| General and Operations Managers | 63,740 | $101,950 |
Go deeper
The best-paid occupations, ranked.
Open →Pay floorNorth Carolina minimum wageThe state's hourly floor.
Open →PricesCost of living in North CarolinaWhat a salary buys there.
Open →Between jobsNorth Carolina unemployment benefitsThe weekly maximum and weeks payable.
Open →Take-homeNorth Carolina paycheck calculatorPay after taxes, per paycheck.
Open →CalculatorSalary to hourly calculatorConvert any salary or hourly rate.
Open →NegotiateSalary negotiationAsk for the top of the range.
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Questions people ask
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How this page is built
Every pay figure is a BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 estimate for all occupations in North Carolina (occupation code 00-0000), copied from BLS's data file; the job-group and occupation rows come from the same file. The average is BLS's mean wage (total wages divided by jobs); the median is the wage in the middle. OEWS wages are straight-time gross pay: they include commissions, tips, production bonuses and cost-of-living allowances, and leave out overtime premiums, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. BLS turns hourly wages into annual ones at 2,080 hours (40 hours for 52 weeks). Ranks, differences and shares are TryHired calculations from the BLS figures. Price levels are BEA Regional Price Parities.
- Household income: this page reports pay per job, not household or family income, which the Census Bureau measures differently.
- Starting pay: the figures include experienced workers. Entry-level pay is usually lower.
- Take-home pay: every figure is before taxes and deductions.
- Self-employment and farm work: not covered by OEWS (see the FAQ).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates: national, state and metropolitan-area data files (public domain).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS technical notes: what the survey counts as wages and jobs.
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released Feb 19, 2026).