Interpreters and Translators · SOC 27-3091

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Interpreters and Translatorss

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for interpreters and translators. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (9 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 161 metro areas

Interpreters and Translators: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$101,530	300	0.3
2	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$94,510	1,630	0.5
3	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$93,960	60	0.1
4	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$87,590	2,520	0.3
5	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$84,960	30	0.2
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$83,680	760	0.3
7	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$83,200	370	0.3
8	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$82,440	70	0.3
9	Salem, OR	$80,960	100	0.6
10	Akron, OH	$80,640	100	0.3
11	Boise City, ID	$80,250	140	0.4
12	Lancaster, PA	$78,890	40	0.1
13	Richmond, VA	$78,030	140	0.2
14	Rochester, NY	$77,770	450	0.9
15	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$75,920	70	0.2
16	Albuquerque, NM	$75,230	210	0.5
17	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$75,120	1,660	0.6
18	Boulder, CO	$75,060	50	0.3
19	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$74,850	460	0.3
20	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$74,310	450	0.3
21	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$73,690	360	0.2
22	Worcester, MA	$72,750	240	0.7
23	Madison, WI	$72,720	220	0.5
24	Ogden, UT	$70,510	110	0.4
25	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$69,470	150	0.3

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