The OES data is grouped geographically. The largest region you can search is an entire State or Territory. You can also search an Area within a State or Territory. You specify for an occupation by entering a Job Code or Search Text. Job codes use the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system.

Searching the Occupational Data

Start by choosing the Data you want to search. For information about the data, see the OES web page.

Select the State or Territory where the job was located.

For most states and territories there are multiple areas available within the OES data. For territories such as Guam and the Virgin Islands there are no areas available other than the territory itself. For a State or Territory with multiple Area selections, if you want to search the entire State or Territory, choose the first item in the Area list. For example, if the job was located in the state of Kansas, and you want to search the data for the entire state, select Kansas from the Area list.

If you want to search for a specific SOC code, enter it in the input box. If you don't know the SOC code, enter text describing the occupation.

When you're done with the previous steps click on the Search button. The application will execute the search and display the results on the second tabbed page.

The application displays the results of your search in the second tabbed page. If you see the correct occupation, click on it in the list. The application will take you to the third tabbed page.

Selecting an Occupation

If you don't see the occupation you're looking for, or if your search returned either too many results or none at all, go back to the previous step and search again. If you searched for a specific job code and area, and did not find any results, trying searching for the same job code in the entire state or territory. If you searched the entire state or territory and found too many results, try searching the area where the job was located. Experiment with the search process until you obtain useful results.

The application displays the data for the selected occupation in the third tabbed page. You can select the mean of the income data, or you can select the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, or 90th percentile. Click on the data point that you want to use.

Selecting a Percentile

In the fourth tabbed page you apply the data and specify the annual income. Calculating the annual amount from an hourly rate requires two inputs if you select a standard pay period (Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Semi-Monthly, or Monthly) and three inputs if you select a Custom pay period. If you select a Custom pay period, in addition to entering the Hours Per Paycheck, you must also enter the number of Paychecks Per Year.

Applying the Income Data