Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service · SOC 43-2011

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Services

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for switchboard operators, including answering service. 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 142 metro areas

Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service: 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	$79,260	440	0.4
2	Urban Honolulu, HI	$63,190	240	0.5
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$61,780	700	0.3
4	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$60,420	70	1.0
5	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$59,360	170	0.6
6	Barnstable Town, MA	$57,030	40	0.4
7	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$51,950	110	0.1
8	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$50,470	190	0.1
9	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$49,840	60	0.2
10	Napa, CA	$49,460	50	0.6
11	Bend, OR	$48,880	40	0.4
12	Salinas, CA	$48,840	90	0.5
13	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$47,380	420	0.4
14	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$47,350	1,470	0.2
15	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$46,330	90	0.4
16	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$46,160	90	0.4
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$46,080	570	0.4
18	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$45,870	2,110	0.3
19	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$45,760	540	0.2
20	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$45,750	580	0.2
21	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$44,980	150	0.1
22	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$44,680	80	0.4
23	Fresno, CA	$44,590	150	0.3
24	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$44,550	70	0.3
25	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$44,540	860	0.2

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service 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.