Los Angeles 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
Los Angeles's median is 18.8% higher — but after local prices, Los Angeles still leads by 3.0%.
Los Angeles's median $38,000 buys $33,500 at national prices (price parity 113.6); 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 Los Angeles.
| Los Angeles | St. Louis | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | 48,440 | 17,700 | −63.5% |
| 10th percentile | $35,760 | $29,510 | −17.5% |
| 25th percentile | $37,080 | $30,250 | −18.4% |
| Median | $38,000 | $30,860 | −18.8% |
| 75th percentile | $42,540 | $33,800 | −20.5% |
| 90th percentile | $45,550 | $36,450 | −20.0% |
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 Los Angeles · 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.