Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators Salary and Pay
How much do Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators make?
The median Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators worker earns $67,710 a year ($32.55), and the mean annual wage is $91,170. BLS counted 7,860 people in this occupation in May 2024. The middle half of earners make between $60,030 and $101,010.
The complete pay picture for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators: 7,860 jobs nationally, a median of $67,710, and the state and metro tables that show where that median is beaten and where it is not.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Every level in the picker is a published BLS figure for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators, not a national average. Annual-to-hourly conversions divide by 2,080 hours, the survey's full-time year; top-coded levels use $239,200, the floor BLS prints, so the true figure is higher.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $46,200 | $22.21 |
| 25th percentile | $60,030 | $28.86 |
| Median (50th) | $67,710 | $32.55 |
| 75th percentile | $101,010 | $48.56 |
| 90th percentile | $133,480 | $64.18 |
The five rows are five different workers in the same occupation, from the 10th percentile ($46,200) to the 90th ($133,480). BLS suppresses cells that fail its reliability rules (n/p here) and caps the highest wages at $239,200+ a year or $115.00+ an hour; in this ladder that top code appears at the very top rows only.
Employment and concentration
With 7,860 jobs nationally, Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators make up 0.01% of U.S. employment as BLS measured it in May 2024. The map is uneven: Texas alone holds 660 of those jobs, the top three states hold 18.6%, and the deepest concentration sits in Wisconsin (location quotient 1.59, where 1.00 is the national average). A quotient above 2 usually signals a local industry cluster rather than evenly spread demand.
The spread matters as much as the center. Earners at the 90th percentile make $133,480, which is 2.9 times the $46,200 at the 10th, a difference of $87,280 annually. Because the mean wage ($91,170) sits above the median ($67,710), a typical offer should be judged against the median and the 25th to 75th percentile band, not the mean.
Pay by state
District of Columbia posts the highest median annual wage in the state table at $106,720, and Texas the largest headcount. The full table, sorted by employment:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 660 | 0.0 | 0.93 | $55,730 | $47,910 |
| New York | 560 | 0.1 | 1.16 | $94,670 | $91,060 |
| Wisconsin | 240 | 0.1 | 1.59 | $74,900 | $65,140 |
| Pennsylvania | 230 | 0.0 | 0.75 | $73,250 | $63,870 |
| Michigan | 210 | 0.0 | 0.95 | $78,400 | $72,630 |
| Massachusetts | 190 | 0.1 | 1.01 | n/p | n/p |
| Arizona | 150 | 0.0 | 0.92 | $80,080 | $80,600 |
| North Carolina | 110 | 0.0 | 0.42 | $74,000 | $74,050 |
| Maryland | 90 | 0.0 | 0.61 | $70,060 | $48,230 |
| Colorado | 60 | 0.0 | 0.42 | $73,360 | $65,270 |
| Illinois | 50 | 0.0 | 0.16 | $99,370 | $93,590 |
| Missouri | 50 | 0.0 | 0.30 | n/p | n/p |
| Tennessee | 50 | 0.0 | 0.30 | $65,340 | $60,380 |
| Alabama | 40 | 0.0 | 0.33 | $75,490 | $82,160 |
| Indiana | 40 | 0.0 | 0.25 | $70,140 | $71,820 |
| New Mexico | 40 | 0.0 | 0.85 | $86,240 | $64,560 |
| Utah | 40 | 0.0 | 0.48 | $57,340 | $55,890 |
| Kansas | 30 | 0.0 | 0.45 | $66,580 | $66,000 |
| North Dakota | 30 | 0.1 | 1.49 | $51,560 | $43,900 |
| South Carolina | 30 | 0.0 | 0.26 | $59,270 | $55,300 |
| Connecticut | n/p | n/p | n/p | $88,880 | $81,630 |
| District of Columbia | n/p | n/p | n/p | $109,390 | $106,720 |
| Iowa | n/p | n/p | n/p | $54,320 | $51,140 |
| Louisiana | n/p | n/p | n/p | $56,930 | $47,940 |
| Virginia | n/p | n/p | n/p | $78,740 | $70,080 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators stands number 715 by employment and number 300 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Legal Occupations, the group median wage is $68,760 across 8 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 2% less than its group median, and it supplies 0.6% of the group's 1,273,410 jobs. In 10 of the 23 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $67,710, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ is the largest metro employer with 410 jobs, 5.2% of the national total. Two rankings follow across the 27 metros BLS publishes for this occupation: where the jobs are, then where the money is, with the pay ranking restricted to metros employing at least 500 people in this occupation to keep small samples out of the lead.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 410 | $95,630 | $89,660 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 200 | $104,570 | $108,350 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | 150 | $57,780 | $53,670 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 140 | $56,670 | $47,890 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | 120 | $84,760 | $80,600 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | 110 | $59,740 | $48,360 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 110 | $102,200 | $105,780 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 100 | $77,410 | $71,360 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 100 | $91,890 | $100,560 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | 90 | $112,970 | $116,700 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
The median Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators paycheck, gross, is $2,604 every two weeks on an annual $67,710, which is $5,642 a month and $1,302 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($60,030) to the 75th ($101,010) is worth $40,980 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. Gross is a starting point, not a budget: the paycheck calculator nets it down by state, an offer comparison lives in the salary calculator, and the raise vs inflation calculator separates a real raise from a nominal one.
To place a real offer: a salary of $74,481 would sit between the median ($67,710) and the 75th percentile ($101,010), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $60,030, is $7,680 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Legal Occupations
Pay for the neighboring roles in the same BLS major group: Lawyers, Paralegals and Legal Assistants, Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers, Legal Support Workers, All Other, Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates, Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers. The full directory is on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median salary for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators?
$67,710 a year ($32.55), the middle wage among 7,860 counted workers in the BLS May 2024 estimates. The 75th percentile is $101,010 and the 90th is $133,480.
Where are Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators jobs concentrated?
By headcount, Texas leads with 660 jobs; by concentration, Wisconsin leads with a location quotient of 1.59, meaning the occupation is 1.59 times as dense there as nationally.
What do the top 10% of Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators earn?
$133,480 a year or more. The gap between the 90th percentile and the median ($67,710) is the size of the senior and specialist premium in this occupation.
How does EveryCalc get Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators pay data?
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS bulk files for May 2024 (national, state, and metropolitan), downloaded November 5, 2026. Nothing on this page is self-reported by workers or scraped from job postings.