Accountants and Auditors salary

SOC 13-2011 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$83,680

per year, nationally

Middle half

$67,020–$109,810

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

1.4M

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+4.6%

124,200 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$56,020$144,090

10th: $56,020
25th: $67,020
Median: $83,680
75th: $109,810
90th: $144,090

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where accountants and auditors earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	District of Columbia	$111,530	109.9	9,810	1.50×
2	New York	$102,640	107.9	109,830	1.22×
3	New Jersey	$100,830	108.8	42,250	1.06×
4	Massachusetts	$99,460	105.8	46,230	1.36×
5	Connecticut	$97,550	103.6	16,770	1.06×
6	California	$97,050	110.7	175,360	1.03×
7	Colorado	$97,030	103.1	35,410	1.32×
8	Washington	$96,550	107.0	34,740	1.05×
9	Rhode Island	$95,820	102.3	6,570	1.41×
10	Delaware	$95,020	99.8	6,570	1.45×
11	Virginia	$93,290	101.1	47,100	1.23×
12	Maryland	$89,370	105.0	26,170	1.02×
13	Oregon	$85,800	103.4	14,920	0.81×
14	New Hampshire	$83,470	104.2	7,000	1.10×
15	Alaska	$83,460	102.4	2,190	0.72×
16	North Carolina	$82,050	94.3	49,270	1.07×
17	Georgia	$81,900	96.3	44,020	0.97×
18	Minnesota	$81,600	98.6	30,530	1.11×
19	Nevada	$81,600	100.0	6,930	0.48×
20	Texas	$80,920	97.1	116,470	0.89×
21	Illinois	$80,230	100.0	54,930	0.97×
22	Utah	$79,990	98.9	15,490	0.96×
23	Arizona	$79,970	100.7	27,410	0.91×
24	Wisconsin	$79,400	94.1	25,100	0.92×
25	Oklahoma	$79,370	87.8	16,720	1.05×
26	Ohio	$79,320	92.8	50,440	0.97×
27	Florida	$79,250	103.4	91,000	0.98×
28	Pennsylvania	$79,000	97.6	54,290	0.96×
29	Kansas	$79,000	90.1	13,610	1.02×
30	Vermont	$78,890	98.0	2,630	0.93×
31	South Dakota	$78,880	88.6	5,820	1.36×
32	Michigan	$78,820	96.2	41,460	1.01×
33	New Mexico	$78,580	92.2	6,300	0.78×
34	Indiana	$77,720	93.3	25,660	0.86×
35	Wyoming	$77,620	92.7	2,670	1.02×
36	Maine	$77,480	97.0	3,860	0.65×
37	Iowa	$77,440	87.8	13,210	0.91×
38	Tennessee	$76,840	91.9	27,340	0.89×
39	Missouri	$76,590	90.8	28,000	1.02×
40	South Carolina	$76,560	93.7	15,270	0.71×
41	Montana	$75,810	94.6	4,730	0.99×
42	North Dakota	$75,730	89.0	4,430	1.11×
43	Kentucky	$75,270	90.2	11,930	0.64×
44	Alabama	$74,880	88.8	24,300	1.23×
45	Idaho	$74,730	95.5	5,570	0.70×
46	Hawaii	$74,500	110.0	4,670	0.80×
47	Louisiana	$73,810	88.2	14,050	0.78×
48	West Virginia	$73,320	89.5	4,900	0.75×
49	Nebraska	$72,080	90.1	10,340	1.08×
50	Mississippi	$68,100	87.0	7,350	0.68×
51	Arkansas	$66,330	86.9	7,870	0.65×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where accountants and auditors wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for accountants and auditors

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$121,700	110.4	13,180	1.25×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$110,730	115.6	25,170	1.14×
3	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$105,650	112.6	111,930	1.27×
4	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$102,140	108.9	41,470	1.42×
5	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$102,020	106.9	5,000	1.33×
6	Midland, TX	$100,890	95.8	1,240	1.08×
7	Parkersburg-Vienna, WV	$100,420	87.1	550	1.64×
8	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$100,150	108.3	37,150	1.47×
9	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$100,020	105.8	22,720	1.51×
10	Boulder, CO	$99,990	105.2	2,380	1.33×
11	Napa, CA	$99,640	112.6	520	0.72×
12	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$99,550	103.2	2,890	1.29×
13	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$99,370	111.1	22,100	1.14×
14	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$96,340	111.9	13,450	0.94×
15	Barnstable Town, MA	$96,110	98.4	760	0.86×
16	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$95,940	102.7	6,780	1.21×
17	Vallejo, CA	$95,800	108.5	690	0.51×
18	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$95,020	101.8	8,250	1.24×
19	New Haven, CT	$94,960	104.6	2,000	0.76×
20	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$94,690	107.8	1,740	0.91×
21	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$94,470	103.7	1,330	1.09×
22	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$94,360	113.6	70,640	1.21×
23	Worcester, MA	$94,070	102.5	3,090	0.95×
24	Carson City, NV	$93,560	98.1	240	0.82×
25	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$93,280	100.1	1,020	0.84×
26	Longview-Kelso, WA	$93,130	97.5	250	0.66×
27	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$93,010	99.8	1,230	0.82×
28	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$92,920	102.4	400	0.82×
29	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$92,910	97.3	16,820	1.33×
30	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$92,200	105.4	10,100	0.90×
31	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$92,110	106.7	13,170	1.31×
32	Springfield, MA	$92,010	96.1	1,720	0.92×
33	Midland, MI	$91,790	91.9	450	1.30×
34	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$91,610	108.8	1,510	0.80×
35	Lexington Park, MD	$91,240	100.8	360	0.55×
36	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$90,340	110.5	2,530	0.84×
37	Walla Walla, WA	$89,630	98.5	170	0.72×
38	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$89,340	101.1	1,860	1.18×
39	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$88,900	109.4	1,860	0.74×
40	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$88,250	105.6	580	0.66×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where accountants and auditors wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Financial and Investment Analysts$102,740
Loan Officers$76,690
Personal Financial Advisors$105,070
Financial Specialists, All Other$81,100
Insurance Underwriters$81,370
Tax Preparers$54,920
Financial Examiners$94,160
Credit Analysts$83,510