Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels · SOC 53-5021

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vesselss

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (2 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 75 metro areas

Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$130,380	800	1.2
2	Baton Rouge, LA	$129,260	900	2.2
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$124,610	440	0.2
4	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$121,710	1,940	4.4
5	Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA	$120,810	580	5.9
6	Lake Charles, LA	$119,630	150	1.4
7	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$118,830	2,550	0.8
8	Lafayette, LA	$116,200	270	1.5
9	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$113,850	60	0.6
10	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$113,850	40	0.7
11	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$113,260	1,210	0.2
12	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$112,320	230	1.4
13	Anchorage, AK	$109,580	140	0.8
14	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$109,080	1,140	0.5
15	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$106,230	2,060	0.2
16	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$103,840	270	0.1
17	Brownsville-Harlingen, TX	$103,800	50	0.3
18	Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA	$103,780	2,040	24.4
19	St. Louis, MO-IL	$94,990	240	0.2
20	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$94,150	150	0.0
21	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$93,440	310	0.3
22	Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL	$92,580	60	0.3
23	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$91,000	250	0.6
24	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$89,890	60	0.1
25	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$86,940	2,050	2.7

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels 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.