2026 Edition · An annual reference on what work pays

Waiters and Waitresses

Evansville, IN metropolitan area. Estimated employment 2,070.

Data released May 2025 BLS OEWS · SOC 35-3031
Fig. 1 — The wage rule

Where you sit in the distribution

Drag the marker, or type a figure
$28,550 · 50th
$17,44010th
$20,54025th
$28,55050th
$36,53075th
$47,64090th

That is the medianhalf of waiters and waitresses in Evansville earn more.

Table 1 — Adjusted

$28,550 in Evansville buys what $31,200 buys across the country as a whole.

Evansville's regional price parity is 91.5 — well below the national average — the nominal figure understates local buying power considerably. Adjusted figures for other metros are in the nearby-metros table below.

Table 2 — Nearby metros

The same job, elsewhere in Indiana

Adjusted figures apply each metro's regional price parity, so the columns are directly comparable.

Metro areaMedianAdjustedRPPvs. Evansville
Indianapolis$29,050$30,40095.7−2.7%
South Bend$28,740$31,00092.9−0.8%
Fort Wayne$28,650$30,90092.6−0.8%
Evansville This page$28,550$31,20091.5
Bloomington$28,540$30,00095.1−3.8%
Kokomo$28,420$31,70089.6+1.6%
Lafayette$28,420$30,40093.4−2.5%
Michigan City$28,260$30,80091.7−1.2%

Price parity and difference against Evansville are in the full table on wider screens.

Fig. 2 — Five-year trend

Nominal against real

The same median, once as published and once restated in 2025 dollars.

15k20k25k30k 20212022202320242025
Nominal, as published Real, in 2025 dollars US$ thousands

Published pay rose 52.0% over the five years to 2025. Adjusted for inflation it still rose 28.0% — pay has outrun prices since 2021. The two lines meet at the right edge by construction, since 2025 is the base year.

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.
Inflation
Real figures deflate by CPI-U annual averages (BLS, all items, US city average).
Employment
2,070 employed in this occupation in the metro (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
Occupation
SOC 35-3031, Waiters and Waitresses. Mapped to our taxonomy as waiters-and-waitresses.

Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.