Boston vs. Washington
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 3.6% higher — but after local prices, Boston still leads by 4.1%.
Boston's median $103,940 buys $96,000 at national prices (price parity 108.3); Washington's $100,200 buys $92,000 (108.9).
Table 2 — The figures
Point by point
Published percentiles for both metros; the last column is Washington against Boston.
| Boston | Washington | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | 10,920 | 13,820 | +26.6% |
| 10th percentile | $65,040 | $60,710 | −6.7% |
| 25th percentile | $80,640 | $77,470 | −3.9% |
| Median | $103,940 | $100,200 | −3.6% |
| 75th percentile | $131,430 | $127,980 | −2.6% |
| 90th percentile | $162,390 | $148,700 | −8.4% |
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 Washington
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.