Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels salary

SOC 53-5021 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$92,460

per year, nationally

Middle half

$63,880–$127,180

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

36,850

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+0.5%

4,300 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.

$47,420$170,640

10th: $47,420
25th: $63,880
Median: $92,460
75th: $127,180
90th: $170,640

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Postsecondary nondegree award
Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: None

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

Where captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels 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	Maryland	$138,950	105.0	450	0.69×
2	Tennessee	$132,710	91.9	940	1.20×
3	Louisiana	$117,160	88.2	6,830	14.89×
4	Texas	$111,390	97.1	3,400	1.02×
5	California	$110,090	110.7	2,420	0.56×
6	New York	$104,800	107.9	1,930	0.84×
7	Mississippi	$104,220	87.0	570	2.08×
8	Washington	$103,730	107.0	1,560	1.86×
9	Iowa	$97,700	87.8	80	0.21×
10	Oregon	$97,050	103.4	350	0.75×
11	Indiana	$92,000	93.3	1,010	1.34×
12	New Jersey	$90,310	108.8	510	0.50×
13	Alaska	$88,230	102.4	710	9.16×
14	Virginia	$87,610	101.1	2,270	2.33×
15	West Virginia	$85,290	89.5	110	0.69×
16	Missouri	$83,670	90.8	420	0.60×
17	Minnesota	$80,920	98.6	110	0.16×
18	Oklahoma	$79,110	87.8	30	0.08×
19	Massachusetts	$77,950	105.8	650	0.75×
20	Georgia	$77,090	96.3	220	0.19×
21	Rhode Island	$76,790	102.3	250	2.09×
22	Florida	$76,040	103.4	5,040	2.14×
23	New Hampshire	$75,870	104.2	70	0.44×
24	Connecticut	$75,810	103.6	380	0.96×
25	Wisconsin	$74,390	94.1	170	0.25×
26	Delaware	$73,280	99.8	50	0.41×
27	Hawaii	$72,960	110.0	700	4.73×
28	Maine	$72,770	97.0	360	2.37×
29	Illinois	$69,600	100.0	900	0.62×
30	North Carolina	$69,170	94.3	490	0.42×
31	Alabama	$68,920	88.8	350	0.70×
32	Vermont	$64,020	98.0	40	0.52×
33	Pennsylvania	$61,420	97.6	580	0.41×
34	Arizona	$58,700	100.7	40	0.05×
35	South Carolina	$57,660	93.7	520	0.96×
36	Ohio	$56,070	92.8	420	0.32×
37	Michigan	$53,590	96.2	640	0.61×
38	Utah	$50,010	98.9	—	—

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 captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels

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	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$130,380	93.1	800	4.90×
2	Baton Rouge, LA	$129,260	90.8	900	9.27×
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$124,610	115.6	440	0.78×
4	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$121,710	92.6	1,940	18.40×
5	Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA	$120,810	92.7	580	25.08×
6	Lake Charles, LA	$119,630	85.9	150	6.04×
7	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$118,830	98.6	2,550	3.28×
8	Lafayette, LA	$116,200	87.2	270	6.31×
9	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$113,850	102.4	40	2.90×
10	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$113,850	105.6	60	2.54×
11	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$113,260	113.6	1,210	0.82×
12	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$112,320	90.0	230	5.83×
13	Anchorage, AK	$109,580	105.4	140	3.27×
14	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$109,080	111.1	1,140	2.31×
15	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$106,230	112.6	2,060	0.92×
16	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$103,840	102.6	270	0.39×
17	Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	$103,800	86.0	50	1.38×
18	Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA	$103,780	85.1	2,040	103.03×
19	St. Louis, MO-IL	$94,990	95.1	240	0.76×
20	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$94,150	108.9	150	0.20×
21	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$93,440	105.4	310	1.08×
22	Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL	$92,580	99.4	60	1.17×
23	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$91,000	101.0	250	2.64×
24	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$89,890	106.9	60	0.61×
25	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$86,940	97.9	2,050	11.34×
26	Barnstable Town, MA	$83,390	98.4	—	—
27	Jacksonville, FL	$83,190	99.5	670	3.69×
28	Gulfport-Biloxi, MS	$81,290	90.0	90	2.34×
29	Savannah, GA	$81,090	95.2	130	2.76×
30	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$80,800	109.4	140	7.83×
31	Chattanooga, TN-GA	$80,790	91.5	30	0.54×
32	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$80,480	95.4	130	0.48×
33	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$80,100	110.5	60	0.82×
34	Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ	$79,990	98.9	40	1.11×
35	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$79,720	101.4	440	1.31×
36	Traverse City, MI	$79,440	93.4	90	5.86×
37	Corpus Christi, TX	$79,060	92.7	180	3.93×
38	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$78,380	106.7	70	0.28×
39	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$78,310	100.4	90	3.10×
40	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$78,280	114.2	1,710	2.55×

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 captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels earn the most

Best paying metro areas for captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels

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