Charlotte vs. St. Louis
Cooks, Fast Food. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 35-2011
Fig. 1 — Side by side
Both distributions, one scale
10th to 90th percentile, median struck in red
Table 1 — Adjusted
St. Louis's median is 11.4% higher — but after local prices, St. Louis still leads by 14.1%.
Charlotte's median $27,690 buys $28,400 at national prices (price parity 97.3); St. Louis's $30,860 buys $32,500 (95.1).
Table 2 — The figures
Point by point
Published percentiles for both metros; the last column is St. Louis against Charlotte.
| Charlotte | St. Louis | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | 15,830 | 17,700 | +11.8% |
| 10th percentile | $22,430 | $29,510 | +31.6% |
| 25th percentile | $24,080 | $30,250 | +25.6% |
| Median | $27,690 | $30,860 | +11.4% |
| 75th percentile | $30,840 | $33,800 | +9.6% |
| 90th percentile | $35,720 | $36,450 | +2.0% |
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
- Cooks, Fast Food in Charlotte · Cooks, Fast Food in St. Louis
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.