Commercial Pilots salary

SOC 53-2012 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$123,220

per year, nationally

Middle half

$84,540–$190,440

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

47,630

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+5.1%

6,600 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.

$58,850$266,620

10th: $58,850
25th: $84,540
Median: $123,220
75th: $190,440
90th: $266,620

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Postsecondary nondegree award
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training

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

Where commercial pilots 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	Connecticut	$232,160	103.6	460	0.89×
2	New Jersey	$226,710	108.8	670	0.51×
3	New York	$177,430	107.9	1,070	0.36×
4	California	$165,590	110.7	4,900	0.88×
5	Delaware	$163,600	99.8	220	1.49×
6	Ohio	$150,330	92.8	2,680	1.58×
7	Georgia	$145,100	96.3	1,020	0.68×
8	Colorado	$139,680	103.1	1,240	1.40×
9	Texas	$137,960	97.1	4,120	0.96×
10	Vermont	$137,810	98.0	40	0.40×
11	Pennsylvania	$134,030	97.6	530	0.29×
12	North Dakota	$133,010	89.0	370	2.81×
13	Maryland	$131,210	105.0	360	0.42×
14	Kentucky	$129,990	90.2	800	1.30×
15	Wisconsin	$129,860	94.1	1,090	1.21×
16	North Carolina	$127,310	94.3	1,520	1.00×
17	Michigan	$126,670	96.2	1,390	1.03×
18	Oklahoma	$126,180	87.8	540	1.04×
19	Illinois	$126,100	100.0	1,170	0.63×
20	Florida	$121,890	103.4	6,340	2.09×
21	Oregon	$120,760	103.4	670	1.11×
22	Washington	$117,730	107.0	890	0.82×
23	Maine	$117,560	97.0	100	0.49×
24	Tennessee	$117,480	91.9	1,030	1.03×
25	Hawaii	$113,030	110.0	350	1.84×
26	Idaho	$109,620	95.5	310	1.19×
27	West Virginia	$105,950	89.5	40	0.20×
28	South Carolina	$105,740	93.7	290	0.41×
29	Kansas	$105,440	90.1	680	1.53×
30	Nevada	$105,340	100.0	1,100	2.32×
31	Virginia	$104,890	101.1	1,130	0.89×
32	Nebraska	$104,780	90.1	290	0.94×
33	Indiana	$104,160	93.3	960	0.97×
34	Montana	$103,690	94.6	330	2.13×
35	Mississippi	$103,640	87.0	240	0.67×
36	Arizona	$103,060	100.7	1,540	1.55×
37	Wyoming	$102,990	92.7	190	2.17×
38	Missouri	$102,990	90.8	670	0.75×
39	Iowa	$101,800	87.8	300	0.62×
40	Alabama	$101,420	88.8	780	1.20×
41	Alaska	$100,120	102.4	1,000	10.07×
42	Utah	$99,610	98.9	540	1.02×
43	Rhode Island	$98,820	102.3	80	0.52×
44	Minnesota	$98,630	98.6	910	1.01×
45	New Mexico	$97,920	92.2	370	1.39×
46	Louisiana	$95,940	88.2	910	1.54×
47	Arkansas	$94,410	86.9	460	1.15×
48	South Dakota	$83,710	88.6	320	2.31×

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 commercial pilots wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for commercial pilots

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	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$315,450	99.8	130	2.67×
2	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$280,630	109.4	50	0.64×
3	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$274,730	107.8	130	2.12×
4	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$232,600	106.9	90	0.72×
5	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$225,900	112.6	1,210	0.42×
6	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$211,350	102.7	100	0.57×
7	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$205,700	103.2	50	0.74×
8	Midland, TX	$198,480	95.8	50	1.42×
9	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$193,940	93.1	430	2.05×
10	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$177,730	96.9	420	1.68×
11	Columbus, OH	$175,690	95.5	1,410	4.15×
12	Port St. Lucie, FL	$173,100	100.2	140	2.66×
13	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$173,070	115.6	380	0.52×
14	Wilmington, NC	$172,320	96.4	40	0.73×
15	Lexington Park, MD	$171,560	100.8	60	2.65×
16	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$170,600	100.0	50	0.44×
17	Colorado Springs, CO	$167,310	100.7	—	—
18	Cleveland, OH	$166,520	93.9	600	1.89×
19	Boulder, CO	$165,780	105.2	40	0.71×
20	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$160,160	103.1	1,810	1.46×
21	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$159,420	110.4	200	0.58×
22	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$158,670	102.6	310	0.35×
23	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$157,420	103.6	840	0.61×
24	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$157,210	105.7	40	0.71×
25	Oklahoma City, OK	$156,760	90.4	200	0.98×
26	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$153,210	95.8	50	0.34×
27	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$149,200	108.8	60	1.01×
28	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$146,880	100.1	560	0.63×
29	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$145,210	101.1	30	0.60×
30	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$144,750	97.3	430	1.04×
31	Modesto, CA	$140,920	104.1	50	0.76×
32	Mobile, AL	$137,960	88.1	50	0.91×
33	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$137,810	100.9	—	—
34	Bismarck, ND	$137,510	91.0	80	3.56×
35	Tulsa, OK	$137,490	89.2	150	1.04×
36	Bozeman, MT	$137,430	102.5	40	1.79×
37	Winston-Salem, NC	$137,180	92.0	40	0.52×
38	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$135,950	92.6	140	0.99×
39	Redding, CA	$135,340	100.7	50	2.14×
40	Pittsburgh, PA	$134,030	94.7	200	0.58×

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 commercial pilots wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Flight Attendants$63,580
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers$232,140
Air Traffic Controllers$148,080
Airfield Operations Specialists$56,850