Public Safety Telecommunicators · SOC 43-5031

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Public Safety Telecommunicatorss

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for public safety telecommunicators. 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 316 metro areas

Public Safety Telecommunicators: 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	$113,800	400	0.4
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$104,910	1,110	0.5
3	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$90,930	80	0.6
4	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$89,090	90	0.7
5	Vallejo, CA	$87,250	200	1.4
6	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$85,950	90	0.9
7	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$84,410	90	0.5
8	Anchorage, AK	$83,870	140	0.8
9	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$83,840	150	0.5
10	Napa, CA	$82,830	80	1.0
11	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$81,990	100	0.5
12	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$81,160	470	0.4
13	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$80,690	170	0.6
14	Medford, OR	$80,620	90	1.0
15	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$80,370	2,140	0.3
16	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$80,180	1,040	0.5
17	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$79,610	680	0.6
18	Salem, OR	$78,950	180	1.0
19	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$78,950	710	0.5
20	Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI	$78,050	40	0.5
21	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$78,030	50	0.4
22	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$77,260	920	0.5
23	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$76,640	290	1.1
24	Bellingham, WA	$76,340	50	0.5
25	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$75,740	90	0.6

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Public Safety Telecommunicators 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.