Interpreters and Translators salary

SOC 27-3091 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$60,170

per year, nationally

Middle half

$46,530–$80,830

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

52,060

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+1.7%

6,900 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.

$37,070$103,660

10th: $37,070
25th: $46,530
Median: $60,170
75th: $80,830
90th: $103,660

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 interpreters and translators 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	$109,970	109.9	280	1.19×
2	Maryland	$88,550	105.0	1,150	1.24×
3	New York	$84,090	107.9	3,240	1.00×
4	Rhode Island	$82,320	102.3	200	1.22×
5	Massachusetts	$72,750	105.8	2,280	1.87×
6	Colorado	$71,790	103.1	800	0.83×
7	California	$70,770	110.7	5,560	0.91×
8	Connecticut	$68,340	103.6	280	0.49×
9	Minnesota	$66,410	98.6	1,030	1.04×
10	Oregon	$66,300	103.4	660	1.00×
11	Idaho	$66,130	95.5	300	1.05×
12	Utah	$65,770	98.9	850	1.47×
13	New Mexico	$63,550	92.2	360	1.22×
14	Maine	$63,470	97.0	90	0.42×
15	Wisconsin	$63,390	94.1	1,410	1.43×
16	Virginia	$63,030	101.1	1,630	1.19×
17	Vermont	$62,450	98.0	80	0.78×
18	Washington	$61,750	107.0	1,250	1.05×
19	Ohio	$61,230	92.8	2,030	1.09×
20	New Jersey	$58,970	108.8	870	0.61×
21	Georgia	$57,880	96.3	1,600	0.98×
22	Mississippi	$57,130	87.0	80	0.20×
23	Pennsylvania	$57,040	97.6	1,420	0.70×
24	Missouri	$57,010	90.8	440	0.45×
25	New Hampshire	$56,370	104.2	240	1.03×
26	Illinois	$55,290	100.0	1,510	0.74×
27	Kentucky	$53,590	90.2	480	0.71×
28	South Dakota	$53,140	88.6	230	1.50×
29	Nebraska	$53,050	90.1	570	1.66×
30	Arkansas	$52,490	86.9	220	0.50×
31	Tennessee	$51,080	91.9	710	0.65×
32	South Carolina	$50,860	93.7	520	0.68×
33	Nevada	$50,370	100.0	320	0.62×
34	Arizona	$50,150	100.7	2,070	1.91×
35	North Carolina	$50,030	94.3	1,780	1.07×
36	Oklahoma	$48,980	87.8	320	0.57×
37	Florida	$48,930	103.4	4,200	1.26×
38	Louisiana	$48,420	88.2	120	0.19×
39	North Dakota	$48,190	89.0	130	0.93×
40	Iowa	$48,150	87.8	560	1.08×
41	Indiana	$48,140	93.3	1,170	1.10×
42	Kansas	$47,950	90.1	470	0.98×
43	Montana	$47,850	94.6	60	0.34×
44	Texas	$47,510	97.1	6,780	1.44×
45	Alabama	$46,130	88.8	310	0.43×
46	Michigan	$45,310	96.2	940	0.64×
47	Hawaii	$42,270	110.0	60	0.30×

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 interpreters and translators wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for interpreters and translators

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	$101,530	110.4	300	0.79×
2	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$94,510	108.9	1,630	1.55×
3	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$93,960	106.9	60	0.41×
4	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$87,590	112.6	2,520	0.79×
5	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$84,960	107.8	30	0.50×
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$83,680	115.6	760	0.95×
7	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$83,200	104.5	370	0.81×
8	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$82,440	108.8	70	1.03×
9	Salem, OR	$80,960	103.6	100	1.65×
10	Akron, OH	$80,640	93.4	100	0.95×
11	Boise City, ID	$80,250	98.4	140	1.09×
12	Lancaster, PA	$78,890	98.3	40	0.43×
13	Richmond, VA	$78,030	97.9	140	0.61×
14	Rochester, NY	$77,770	97.0	450	2.72×
15	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$75,920	110.5	70	0.62×
16	Albuquerque, NM	$75,230	95.5	210	1.56×
17	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$75,120	108.3	1,660	1.83×
18	Boulder, CO	$75,060	105.2	50	0.76×
19	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$74,850	105.8	460	0.85×
20	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$74,310	106.4	450	0.79×
21	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$73,690	111.9	360	0.71×
22	Worcester, MA	$72,750	102.5	240	2.03×
23	Madison, WI	$72,720	97.3	220	1.61×
24	Ogden, UT	$70,510	100.3	110	1.23×
25	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$69,470	99.6	150	0.98×
26	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$69,460	113.6	1,480	0.71×
27	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$69,430	101.8	340	1.44×
28	St. Cloud, MN	$69,190	87.6	90	2.60×
29	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$68,980	104.8	650	0.99×
30	Fresno, CA	$68,050	102.2	110	0.69×
31	Colorado Springs, CO	$67,560	100.7	120	1.17×
32	San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas, PR	$67,200	—	90	0.41×
33	South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI	$66,980	92.9	—	—
34	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$66,940	101.6	60	1.05×
35	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	$66,720	92.2	70	0.35×
36	Lexington-Fayette, KY	$66,320	92.9	120	1.22×
37	Visalia, CA	$66,000	99.8	50	0.92×
38	Charlottesville, VA	$65,910	99.1	40	0.93×
39	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$65,800	111.1	690	0.99×
40	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$65,770	100.9	580	2.10×

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 interpreters and translators wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Public Relations Specialists$74,750
Editors$77,920
Writers and Authors$76,910
Technical Writers$90,390
News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists$62,200
Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys$47,340
Media and Communication Workers, All Other$73,620
Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners$72,420