Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers · SOC 53-2011

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineerss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (3 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 46 metro areas

Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$618,090	8,700	3.0
2	Boise City, ID	$507,640	Not published	Not published
3	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$428,570	Not published	Not published
4	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$374,680	2,900	1.2
5	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$364,730	6,710	1.1
6	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$350,950	3,330	3.0
7	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$343,140	50	0.0
8	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$335,270	10,030	1.1
9	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$321,950	340	0.2
10	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$307,690	4,160	1.3
11	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$307,490	5,600	3.5
12	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$293,490	6,360	1.4
13	Anchorage, AK	$232,240	1,270	7.2
14	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$229,900	3,340	1.6
15	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$229,490	180	0.1
16	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$228,040	2,100	0.9
17	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$219,330	Not published	Not published
18	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$216,070	4,810	1.7
19	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$212,810	5,980	1.5
20	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$211,470	2,940	1.5
21	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$210,750	150	0.1
22	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$209,750	5,100	1.6
23	Lexington-Fayette, KY	$208,770	Not published	Not published
24	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$207,000	160	0.1
25	Tucson, AZ	$206,050	60	0.1

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.