Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2020

13-1051 Cost Estimators

Prepare cost estimates for product manufacturing, construction projects, or services to aid management in bidding on or determining price of product or service. May specialize according to particular service performed or type of product manufactured.

National estimates for Cost Estimators
Industry profile for Cost Estimators
Geographic profile for Cost Estimators

National estimates for Cost Estimators:

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for Cost Estimators:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
199,360	1.0 %	$ 35.08	$ 72,960	0.4 %

Percentile wage estimates for Cost Estimators:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$ 19.41	$ 24.99	$ 32.03	$ 42.53	$ 54.98
Annual Wage (2)	$ 40,380	$ 51,980	$ 66,610	$ 88,460	$ 114,360

Industry profile for Cost Estimators:

Industries with the highest published employment and wages for Cost Estimators are provided. For a list of all industries with employment in Cost Estimators, see the Create Customized Tables function.

Industries with the highest levels of employment in Cost Estimators:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Building Equipment Contractors	28,380	1.30	$ 36.92	$ 76,800
Nonresidential Building Construction	20,520	2.54	$ 39.66	$ 82,480
Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors	17,450	1.89	$ 34.77	$ 72,320
Building Finishing Contractors	15,990	1.99	$ 33.82	$ 70,340
Residential Building Construction	14,480	1.81	$ 33.25	$ 69,160

Industries with the highest concentration of employment in Cost Estimators:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Nonresidential Building Construction	20,520	2.54	$ 39.66	$ 82,480
Building Finishing Contractors	15,990	1.99	$ 33.82	$ 70,340
Foundation, Structure, and Building Exterior Contractors	17,450	1.89	$ 34.77	$ 72,320
Residential Building Construction	14,480	1.81	$ 33.25	$ 69,160
Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction	5,570	1.56	$ 40.99	$ 85,260

Top paying industries for Cost Estimators:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Natural Gas Distribution	900	0.84	$ 45.31	$ 94,250
Software Publishers	60	0.01	$ 44.46	$ 92,480
Communications Equipment Manufacturing	70	0.09	$ 44.41	$ 92,370
Waste Treatment and Disposal	60	0.06	$ 44.34	$ 92,230
Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities	60	0.01	$ 43.56	$ 90,610

Geographic profile for Cost Estimators:

States and areas with the highest published employment, location quotients, and wages for Cost Estimators are provided. For a list of all areas with employment in Cost Estimators, see the Create Customized Tables function.

States with the highest employment level in Cost Estimators:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
California	25,330	1.54	1.08	$ 39.98	$ 83,150
Texas	16,500	1.36	0.95	$ 35.17	$ 73,150
Florida	12,940	1.53	1.07	$ 31.42	$ 65,350
New York	8,640	0.99	0.69	$ 38.44	$ 79,950
Virginia	8,290	2.24	1.56	$ 35.77	$ 74,400

States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in Cost Estimators:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Virginia	8,290	2.24	1.56	$ 35.77	$ 74,400
Montana	1,010	2.21	1.54	$ 28.14	$ 58,540
South Dakota	890	2.16	1.50	$ 28.90	$ 60,100
Delaware	910	2.12	1.48	$ 33.56	$ 69,800
Colorado	5,430	2.11	1.47	$ 35.48	$ 73,790

Top paying states for Cost Estimators:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
District of Columbia	420	0.61	0.43	$ 50.41	$ 104,840
Massachusetts	5,320	1.59	1.11	$ 43.73	$ 90,950
Hawaii	690	1.20	0.83	$ 40.57	$ 84,380
California	25,330	1.54	1.08	$ 39.98	$ 83,150
Alaska	250	0.84	0.59	$ 39.64	$ 82,450

Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in Cost Estimators:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	9,060	1.03	0.72	$ 39.73	$ 82,640
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	7,580	1.30	0.91	$ 39.48	$ 82,130
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	5,530	1.54	1.07	$ 35.37	$ 73,570
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX	4,660	1.57	1.10	$ 37.65	$ 78,300
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	4,540	1.50	1.05	$ 41.11	$ 85,520
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	4,290	0.98	0.69	$ 36.45	$ 75,820
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH	4,180	1.61	1.12	$ 44.67	$ 92,910
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	4,080	1.51	1.06	$ 38.21	$ 79,480
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	3,770	1.79	1.25	$ 35.28	$ 73,390
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	3,670	1.88	1.31	$ 40.07	$ 83,350

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in Cost Estimators:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Greeley, CO	380	3.62	2.53	$ 30.86	$ 64,180
Wausau, WI	230	3.31	2.31	$ 29.62	$ 61,600
Harrisonburg, VA	200	3.19	2.22	$ 32.17	$ 66,920
Bend-Redmond, OR	250	3.12	2.17	$ 29.88	$ 62,160
Lynchburg, VA	300	3.11	2.17	$ 26.92	$ 56,000
St. George, UT	210	3.08	2.15	$ 29.02	$ 60,360
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC	2,160	3.00	2.09	$ 36.10	$ 75,080
Rapid City, SD	190	2.97	2.07	$ 30.61	$ 63,660
Manhattan, KS	110	2.92	2.04	$ 34.57	$ 71,910
Billings, MT	240	2.89	2.01	$ 31.08	$ 64,660