Airfield Operations Specialists salary

SOC 53-2022 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$56,850

per year, nationally

Middle half

$42,000–$77,340

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

15,190

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+4.2%

1,600 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.

$35,870$102,120

10th: $35,870
25th: $42,000
Median: $56,850
75th: $77,340
90th: $102,120

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Long-term on-the-job training

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

Where airfield operations specialists 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	Kentucky	$123,290	90.2	290	1.50×
2	Washington	$84,050	107.0	150	0.42×
3	Alabama	$78,590	88.8	—	—
4	Arizona	$77,570	100.7	160	0.52×
5	Colorado	$77,500	103.1	70	0.25×
6	Oregon	$75,130	103.4	50	0.26×
7	Virginia	$72,250	101.1	280	0.70×
8	Alaska	$71,510	102.4	160	5.10×
9	New Mexico	$69,090	92.2	50	0.55×
10	Georgia	$66,790	96.3	340	0.71×
11	California	$62,600	110.7	1,660	0.93×
12	Idaho	$62,510	95.5	40	0.47×
13	Michigan	$61,780	96.2	440	1.03×
14	Nevada	$61,350	100.0	150	0.98×
15	Texas	$60,910	97.1	1,310	0.95×
16	Utah	$59,780	98.9	290	1.73×
17	Florida	$57,650	103.4	2,320	2.39×
18	Ohio	$57,140	92.8	360	0.67×
19	Massachusetts	$56,020	105.8	380	1.06×
20	Pennsylvania	$55,660	97.6	340	0.57×
21	Oklahoma	$49,200	87.8	80	0.49×
22	Iowa	$48,870	87.8	40	0.25×
23	North Carolina	$45,820	94.3	610	1.27×
24	Mississippi	$44,290	87.0	—	—
25	New Jersey	$42,480	108.8	—	—
26	New York	$42,000	107.9	2,190	2.32×
27	Missouri	$40,360	90.8	310	1.08×
28	Tennessee	$40,180	91.9	190	0.59×
29	Wisconsin	$39,400	94.1	100	0.34×
30	South Dakota	$37,860	88.6	190	4.36×
31	Indiana	$37,730	93.3	350	1.12×
32	North Dakota	$37,550	89.0	80	2.01×
33	Montana	$33,990	94.6	90	1.84×
34	South Carolina	$33,590	93.7	90	0.40×
35	West Virginia	$28,670	89.5	60	0.86×

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 airfield operations specialists wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for airfield operations specialists

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	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$88,420	103.3	130	0.54×
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$86,880	110.4	50	0.47×
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$85,680	115.6	240	1.02×
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$84,050	111.1	140	0.67×
5	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$81,950	102.6	120	0.42×
6	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$81,740	105.8	40	0.26×
7	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$81,350	105.4	30	0.29×
8	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$78,920	100.1	240	0.84×
9	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$76,100	95.4	140	1.34×
10	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$69,560	100.3	250	1.35×
11	Anchorage, AK	$65,570	105.4	90	5.35×
12	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	$64,320	92.2	70	1.23×
13	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$63,550	111.9	60	0.40×
14	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$63,100	100.9	220	2.69×
15	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$61,740	106.7	120	1.14×
16	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$61,350	100.2	110	1.01×
17	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$60,910	98.1	110	0.89×
18	Columbus, OH	$60,830	95.5	80	0.73×
19	Jacksonville, FL	$59,790	99.5	70	1.00×
20	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$58,630	114.2	1,530	5.57×
21	Cleveland, OH	$57,790	93.9	170	1.67×
22	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$57,330	113.6	620	1.01×
23	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$56,020	108.3	280	1.06×
24	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$54,960	106.4	190	1.16×
25	Pittsburgh, PA	$54,090	94.7	110	1.06×
26	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$53,800	108.8	30	1.71×
27	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$51,620	98.2	80	1.09×
28	San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas, PR	$50,180	—	—	—
29	Tulsa, OK	$49,190	89.2	40	0.78×
30	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$48,980	101.4	250	1.84×
31	Kansas City, MO-KS	$48,590	92.5	90	0.88×
32	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$47,550	98.6	260	0.80×
33	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	$47,490	94.7	30	0.30×
34	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$47,440	100.9	160	1.11×
35	Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL	$47,170	102.3	—	—
36	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$46,060	97.3	250	1.88×
37	Greensboro-High Point, NC	$45,750	92.9	80	2.35×
38	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$43,930	108.9	160	0.53×
39	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$42,000	112.6	2,090	2.26×
40	St. Louis, MO-IL	$41,070	95.1	170	1.29×

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 airfield operations specialists 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
Commercial Pilots$123,220
Air Traffic Controllers$148,080