Boston vs. Los Angeles
Compliance Officers. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 13-1041
Fig. 1 — Side by side
Both distributions, one scale
10th to 90th percentile, median struck in red
Table 1 — Adjusted
Boston's median is 8.8% higher — but after local prices, Boston still leads by 13.0%.
Boston's median $103,940 buys $96,000 at national prices (price parity 108.3); Los Angeles's $94,810 buys $83,500 (113.6).
Table 2 — The figures
Point by point
Published percentiles for both metros; the last column is Los Angeles against Boston.
| Boston | Los Angeles | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | 10,920 | 17,700 | +62.1% |
| 10th percentile | $65,040 | $55,740 | −14.3% |
| 25th percentile | $80,640 | $71,230 | −11.7% |
| Median | $103,940 | $94,810 | −8.8% |
| 75th percentile | $131,430 | $124,210 | −5.5% |
| 90th percentile | $162,390 | $146,350 | −9.9% |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Price parity
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Full pages
- Compliance Officers in Boston · Compliance Officers in Los Angeles
Percentiles are reported exactly as released. Derived (price-adjusted) figures round to the nearest hundred. We take no payment for how any figure is presented.