Pay & Compensation
What an hour of work costs an employer varies widely by region. In a The Economics Daily article published September 28, the Bureau of Labor Statistics highlighted that private-industry employers in the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, Calif., combined statistical area had among the highest compensation costs in March 2026, at $75.12 per hour worked. The same BLS data put the figure at $39.85 in the Atlanta–Athens-Clarke County–Sandy Springs, GA-AL combined statistical area. The March figures were first released in the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation report on June 12.
What the numbers show
In the San Jose area, wages and salaries accounted for $50.83 of the hourly total, or 67.7%, and benefits for $24.29, or 32.3%. In the Atlanta combined area, wages and salaries were $28.45 (71.4%) and benefits $11.40 (28.6%). Nationally, private-industry compensation costs averaged $46.60 per hour worked in March 2026, with wages and salaries at $32.60 and benefits at $14.01, or 30.1% of the total.
Among the 15 largest combined areas BLS compared, Atlanta ranked 13th. Only the Dallas–Fort Worth area ($39.05) and the Miami–Port St. Lucie–Fort Lauderdale area ($37.84), which BLS said had among the lowest costs, were lower. By a jobgetr.ai calculation from the BLS figures, the Atlanta area’s average was about $6.75 an hour, or roughly 15%, below the national private-industry average.
What these figures measure
These are employer costs per hour worked, covering wages and salaries plus employer spending on benefits such as insurance, paid leave and retirement. They are not take-home pay, and they are not seasonally adjusted. The geography matters as well: the BLS area is a combined statistical area that reaches from metro Atlanta to Athens and into Alabama. It is broader than the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan area that jobgetr.ai uses for its Atlanta labor-market data, and the two should not be treated as interchangeable.
A newer national reading exists. BLS reported on September 9 that private-industry compensation costs averaged $46.89 per hour in June 2026. Area figures for June were not part of that comparison, so March remains the matched period for regional comparisons.
What not to conclude
The averages span all private industries and occupations in each area. The gap between Atlanta and San Jose reflects differences in industry and occupational mix as well as in pay practices, so it does not tell anyone what a specific Atlanta job should pay. For role-level pay decisions, occupation-specific wage data, experience level and the structure of the benefits package matter more than an area-wide average. Employers comparing costs across regions, and workers comparing offers, should look at wages and benefits separately rather than at a single total.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Economics Daily, article on employer compensation costs by combined statistical area, March 2026 data, September 28, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/employer-costs-for-employee-compensation-in-san-jose-area-averaged-75-12-in-march-2026.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — March 2026” (including Table 8, metropolitan areas), June 12, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_06122026.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — June 2026,” September 9, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm
Featured photo: Peachtree Street at Decatur Street in downtown Atlanta, photographed in 2013. The BLS figures describe average employer costs across the combined area, not the workers or employers pictured. Photo: Hermann Luyken, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0). Cropped from the original.
