Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials · SOC 27-2023

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officialss

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for umpires, referees, and other sports officials. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (5 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 65 metro areas

Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Green Bay, WI	$77,670	40	0.2
2	Baton Rouge, LA	$65,230	120	0.3
3	Bismarck, ND	$63,920	70	1.0
4	Fargo, ND-MN	$63,190	40	0.3
5	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$62,400	80	0.1
6	Columbus, OH	$58,240	100	0.1
7	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$57,190	230	0.1
8	Cleveland, OH	$57,140	160	0.2
9	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$56,330	310	0.1
10	Akron, OH	$56,200	40	0.1
11	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$51,600	540	0.1
12	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$51,230	550	0.1
13	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$50,250	160	0.1
14	Boulder, CO	$49,460	80	0.4
15	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$49,410	140	0.1
16	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$47,540	90	0.1
17	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$46,850	310	0.1
18	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$46,500	50	0.0
19	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$46,080	50	0.4
20	Pittsburgh, PA	$45,300	60	0.1
21	Greeley, CO	$44,990	70	0.6
22	Lawrence, KS	$44,930	40	0.8
23	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$44,890	70	0.1
24	Rochester, MN	$44,230	30	0.3
25	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$44,200	110	0.1

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials 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.