Foresters · SOC 19-1032

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Foresterss

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for foresters. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 52 metro areas

Foresters: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$112,560	70	0.0
2	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$107,750	110	0.1
3	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$107,690	110	0.0
4	Fresno, CA	$102,540	30	0.1
5	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$93,340	40	0.0
6	Columbia, SC	$89,990	50	0.1
7	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$89,780	180	0.1
8	Salem, OR	$89,220	110	0.6
9	Birmingham, AL	$87,050	40	0.1
10	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$86,310	240	0.1
11	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$86,070	90	0.0
12	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$86,060	50	0.1
13	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$85,610	130	0.0
14	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$83,720	70	0.0
15	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$82,310	40	0.0
16	Corvallis, OR	$81,450	40	1.1
17	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$80,600	100	0.0
18	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$79,980	60	0.4
19	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$78,800	40	0.0
20	Longview-Kelso, WA	$78,460	30	0.9
21	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$76,600	110	0.9
22	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$76,600	80	0.3
23	Duluth, MN-WI	$76,400	90	0.7
24	Medford, OR	$76,400	40	0.4
25	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$76,330	50	0.1

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Foresters 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.