occupation · 43-5041 · detailed
Meter Readers, Utilities — wages and employment
Meter Readers, Utilities earned a median annual wage of $49,180 in the United States in May 2024, with 19,620 people employed, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
What stands out
Meter Readers, Utilities earned a median annual wage of $49,180 in the United States in May 2024, with 19,620 people employed, according to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The lowest-paid tenth earned $33,980 or less, the best-paid tenth $86,480 or more. Since May 2023 the median moved from $47,720 to $49,180, +3.1 %. The best-paying state is Wisconsin at $87,610; the lowest Arkansas at $34,830. Among metropolitan areas, Bakersfield-Delano, CA pays the highest median, $99,840. Wages are as published by BLS for May of each year; '≥ $239,200' is BLS's top code. Every value links to its fact record.
United States, year by year
Annual wages at the median, mean and four percentiles; employment is the May estimate.
| Reference | Employment | Median | Mean | 10th | 25th | 75th | 90th | Median hourly | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2024 | 19,620 | $49,180 | $55,810 | $33,980 | $39,620 | $68,030 | $86,480 | $23.64 | evidence → |
| May 2023 | 19,900 | $47,720 | $53,610 | $31,320 | $37,660 | $65,600 | $82,150 | $22.94 | evidence → |
By state
Median annual wage, May 2024, highest first. Each state has its own record with the full series.
| State | Median annual | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | $87,610 | 230 |
| Nebraska | $84,730 | 110 |
| California | $78,970 | 890 |
| Illinois | $78,620 | 770 |
| Nevada | $71,600 | 140 |
| New York | $69,050 | 870 |
| Washington | $67,240 | 380 |
| Minnesota | $66,210 | 270 |
| Montana | $66,160 | 40 |
| Oregon | $61,820 | 140 |
| Maine | $61,520 | 30 |
| West Virginia | $60,230 | 400 |
| Colorado | $60,110 | 140 |
| Wyoming | $59,870 | 50 |
| Connecticut | $58,710 | 110 |
| Iowa | $58,600 | 80 |
| Michigan | $57,610 | 280 |
| Maryland | $57,000 | 280 |
| New Jersey | $56,670 | 1,170 |
| Vermont | $56,590 | 50 |
| New Hampshire | $56,240 | 40 |
| Massachusetts | $55,820 | 390 |
| Delaware | $54,540 | 30 |
| Utah | $53,650 | 210 |
| Indiana | $52,070 | 310 |
| Hawaii | $50,400 | 50 |
| Missouri | $49,570 | 390 |
| South Dakota | $48,800 | — |
| Rhode Island | $48,370 | 40 |
| Arizona | $47,980 | 530 |
| Alabama | $47,470 | 430 |
| South Carolina | $47,200 | 410 |
| Ohio | $46,930 | 1,680 |
| Pennsylvania | $45,840 | 990 |
| Virginia | $45,370 | 430 |
| Kentucky | $44,220 | 640 |
| Georgia | $44,180 | 600 |
| Florida | $44,120 | 940 |
| New Mexico | $40,140 | 360 |
| Texas | $40,050 | 1,280 |
| North Carolina | $39,720 | 530 |
| Tennessee | $38,450 | 720 |
| Mississippi | $38,240 | 590 |
| Oklahoma | $37,820 | 310 |
| Louisiana | $37,190 | 670 |
| North Dakota | $36,330 | 30 |
| Arkansas | $34,830 | 200 |
Highest-paying metropolitan areas
Top 20 by median annual wage.
| Metro area | Median annual | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| Bakersfield-Delano, CA | $99,840 | 40 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $99,350 | 160 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $95,330 | 40 |
| Omaha, NE-IA | $84,780 | 70 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $79,210 | 420 |
| Reno, NV | $77,780 | 50 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $76,380 | 50 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $73,690 | 210 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $70,110 | 140 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $70,060 | 60 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $69,810 | 1,320 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $66,410 | 200 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $66,210 | 200 |
| Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ | $66,210 | 50 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $65,330 | 40 |
| Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV | $64,750 | 40 |
| Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $63,710 | 70 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $63,610 | 80 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $63,310 | 280 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $62,490 | 50 |
Machine access — free, no API key
Every figure shown here about Meter Readers, Utilities — wages and employment can also be queried live: FACTANKER runs an MCP server at https://factanker.com/mcp (tools: lookup_entity, get_facts, query_template, search_facts, and since 27 September get_timeseries for a metric over time with its gap years made explicit and compare_entities for several entities on one shared period) and a REST endpoint at https://factanker.com/api/get_facts. Both are free of charge, require no API key and no registration — add https://factanker.com/mcp as a connector in Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot. Every answer carries its source document and a citation reference. Setup: /quickstart.
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