{
 "study": "pay-range-within-jobs",
 "dataset_version": "2026-10-27+acf14c4b4621",
 "analysis_date": "2026-10-27",
 "reference_period": "May 2025",
 "values": {
  "n_q1": 757,
  "median_ratio": 2.2543,
  "q1_ratio": 1.9118,
  "q3_ratio": 2.7437,
  "n_q2": 482,
  "median_share": 0.923,
  "median_nat_ratio_q2": 2.202,
  "median_state_ratio_q2": 2.045,
  "n_share_ge_90": 296,
  "n_share_lt_75": 34,
  "spearman_ratio_median": 0.623
 },
 "findings": [
  {
   "id": "W-F1",
   "text": "Inside the typical U.S. occupation, workers at the 90th percentile of pay earn 2.25 times what workers at the 10th percentile earn: the median 90th-to-10th percentile ratio across 757 occupations (BLS OEWS May 2025, annual wages). For the middle half of occupations the ratio is 1.91 to 2.74."
  },
  {
   "id": "W-F2",
   "text": "The widest ranges: Athletes and Sports Competitors (28.0 times), Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric (7.8) and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (7.2). The narrowest: Postmasters and Mail Superintendents (1.31), Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse (1.39) and Tellers (1.45)."
  },
  {
   "id": "W-F3",
   "text": "Most of that range is present inside each state. Across 482 occupations with reliable estimates in 10 or more states, the typical within-state 90th-to-10th percentile ratio is 2.04, against 2.20 nationally; the median occupation keeps 92% of its national pay range (on a log scale) inside a single state."
  },
  {
   "id": "W-F4",
   "text": "In 296 of the 482 occupations, 90% or more of the national range is present within states. In 34, less than 75% is; the lowest shares are Home Health and Personal Care Aides (56%), Passenger Attendants (58%) and First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers (60%), where pay levels differ more from state to state."
  },
  {
   "id": "W-F5",
   "text": "Higher-paying occupations tend to have wider pay ranges: the rank correlation between an occupation's median wage and its 90th-to-10th percentile ratio is 0.62 across the 757 occupations."
  }
 ],
 "how_to_reproduce": "Load the CSV. Q1 = rows with in_q1 = yes; Q2 = rows with in_q2 = yes. Medians and quartiles are type-7 percentiles (Excel PERCENTILE.INC). Spearman = rank correlation of annual_median_usd and national_ratio_p90_p10 over Q1."
}