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Salary · Flight Attendant · United States

Flight Attendant salary: $63,580 median, and how to negotiate yours.

The full pay range by percentile, the 19 states with a published BLS median, the top-paying metro areas and similar roles, from the latest BLS survey. Place your own offer on the range.

Updated Nov 4, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025
Annual wage range · U.S. · BLS May 2025
$63,580median · annual pay only

BLS publishes annual wages only for this occupation, so no hourly figure is shown.

Quick answer

The median annual wage for flight attendants in the United States was $63,580 in May 2025 (BLS). The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $35,110 and the top 10% earned more than $136,430. That median is 1.2 times the $50,980 median for all occupations. BLS publishes a state median for 19 states; among them the highest was in New York ($126,650).

10th percentile
$35,110
lowest-paid 10% earn less
25th percentile
$51,760
a quarter earn less
75th percentile
$95,640
a quarter earn more
90th percentile
$136,430
top 10% earn more
Key facts

More on flight attendant pay

  • Median hourly wage: Not available. BLS publishes only annual wages for this occupation.

    Source checked: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • The middle half of flight attendants in the United States earned between $51,760 and $95,640 a year in May 2025 (25th to 75th percentile, BLS).

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • The lowest-paid 10% of flight attendants in the United States earned less than $35,110 a year in May 2025, and the top 10% more than $136,430 (BLS).

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • The mean annual wage for flight attendants in the United States was $77,440 in May 2025, according to BLS; the mean is a different measure from the median.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • BLS estimated that 131,650 people were employed as flight attendants in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

Pay by state

Flight Attendant salary in the 19 states with a published median

Data BLS state estimates, May 2025. 19 states publish a median for this occupation; together they employ at least 72% of the 131,650 flight attendants BLS counts nationally. Every other state is listed below the table with its BLS status. Sort by pay or by number employed.

Highest median pay (published states)
  1. New York$126,650
  2. Utah$82,730
  3. California$82,170
  4. Georgia$78,320
  5. Connecticut$78,180
Most people employed (published states)
  1. California15,840
  2. Texas13,470
  3. Florida13,220
  4. New York12,060
  5. Illinois9,350
Median annual wage by state
State10th–90th percentile
New York$126,650$52,430–$163,75012,060
Utah$82,730$49,830–$133,2302,490
California$82,170$48,130–$129,29015,840
Georgia$78,320$62,410–$127,390n/a
Connecticut$78,180$53,990–$134,050250
Washington$74,090$48,050–$135,320n/a
Michigan$62,490$61,270–$129,070n/a
Ohio$62,440$26,590–$95,510990
Idaho$62,200$62,200–$130,060n/a
Illinois$62,120$40,040–$98,8109,350
Arizona$61,780$32,390–$81,8604,590
Massachusetts$61,510$31,730–$99,3904,390
Oregon$61,480$30,930–$96,790980
Minnesota$61,230$30,010–$96,7104,050
Colorado$59,500$31,510–$95,6407,110
Texas$58,220$28,800–$77,74013,470
Nevada$51,800$31,120–$75,1304,040
Florida$47,320$27,790–$90,26013,220
Pennsylvania$39,520$25,960–$65,3702,290
  • BLS publishes employment but no wage estimate: Virginia (3,900 employed).
  • no estimate in BLS's May 2025 state file: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Top-paying metro areas

Where the median is highest

Data Metropolitan areas with at least 100 people employed in the occupation, BLS May 2025.

  1. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ$127,740
  2. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$89,430
  3. Columbus, OH$83,450
  4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$79,390
  5. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC$64,890
  6. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$63,580
  7. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT$62,770
  8. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$62,120
  9. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ$61,780
  10. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$61,510
Similar roles

How the pay compares

Data National medians for related occupations (O*NET related roles, BLS pay).

  1. Airline Pilot$232,140
  2. Air Traffic Controller$148,080
  3. Train Conductor$78,000
  4. Flight Attendant$63,580
  5. Bus Driver$59,050
  6. Security Guard$38,020
  7. Usher$32,910
Negotiation script builder

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Our view If you cite market data, cite this page's source: the BLS median for your state and the percentile your offer sits at. A specific, sourced number is easier to agree to than a feeling.

Method

How this page is built

Wages are BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics estimates for May 2025 (national, state and metropolitan area), for the occupation shown. OEWS wages are straight-time gross pay: they include base pay, commissions, production bonuses and tips, and exclude overtime, shift differentials, non-production bonuses and benefits. Percentiles describe all workers in the occupation, not entry or senior levels.

What this page can't tell you
  • Pay at a specific employer, or for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Experience level: percentiles are not seniority bands.
  • Equity, bonuses outside OEWS's definition, and benefits.
Sources
  1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
  2. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.

How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.

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