Careers

Residential Advisors Salary and Pay

How much do Residential Advisors make?

Residential Advisors pay a median of $39,180 a year in the BLS May 2024 survey, with a mean of $41,590 across 82,810 counted jobs. Half of all workers in the occupation earn between $33,890 and $47,590.

Residential Advisors salary data without the self-reported noise: BLS surveyed the employers, and this page prints the ladder, the states, and the metros exactly as the survey published them.

Updated November 5, 2026

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The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)

Pay levelAnnual wageHourly wage
10th percentile$28,490$13.70
25th percentile$33,890$16.29
Median (50th)$39,180$18.84
75th percentile$47,590$22.88
90th percentile$58,350$28.05

Percentiles answer the question a single average cannot: where would a given Residential Advisors offer sit among all 82,810 workers doing this job? The survey top-codes at $239,200+ and withholds unreliable cells, shown as n/p in the table.

Employment and concentration

The occupation employed 82,810 people in May 2024, 0.05% of every job BLS counted. California is the largest employer at 7,400 jobs, and the leading three states between them hold 21.1% of the workforce. Concentration peaks in South Dakota, whose location quotient of 7.37 says this work is 7.37 times as dense there as it is nationwide.

Pay inside the occupation is wide: $29,860 separates the ends of its ladder. The 90th percentile ($58,350) is 2.0 times the 10th percentile ($28,490), a gap of $29,860 a year. The mean of $41,590 sitting above the median of $39,180 tells you the top end pulls the average up: most workers cluster below the mean, and the high tail is thin.

Pay by state

Oregon posts the highest median annual wage in the state table at $47,620, and California the largest headcount. The full table, sorted by employment:

StateEmploymentJobs per 1,000Location quotientMean annualMedian annual
California7,4000.40.76$51,450$46,850
Pennsylvania5,1500.91.59$40,020$38,220
New York4,9300.50.96$45,890$44,420
Massachusetts4,5201.22.31$49,130$47,120
Minnesota3,5801.22.28$47,350$46,800
Tennessee3,2201.01.83$33,390$32,090
Ohio3,1700.61.07$37,720$36,270
Texas3,1200.20.42$37,790$37,180
North Carolina2,8500.61.09$37,690$36,590
Georgia2,7200.61.04$37,530$35,450
Illinois2,7100.40.83$41,770$39,730
Maryland2,6501.01.80$42,670$38,240
Virginia2,3000.61.05$45,640$41,360
Florida2,2200.20.42$40,650$37,660
Alabama2,0501.01.82$28,470$27,750
Kentucky1,8700.91.74$29,320$28,800
New Jersey1,8700.40.82$45,140$40,320
South Dakota1,7904.07.37$36,400$36,780
Washington1,6900.50.89$48,560$47,110
Arizona1,5800.50.92$39,630$36,180
Connecticut1,5600.91.72$45,450$44,660
Michigan1,5300.30.65$40,700$38,150
Indiana1,4200.40.83$40,050$38,240
West Virginia1,2201.73.25$30,910$29,400
South Carolina1,1500.50.94$39,390$37,930
Utah1,1100.71.21$41,630$39,520
Missouri1,0100.30.65$38,660$36,180
Oklahoma9300.51.02$33,470$32,720
District of Columbia9001.32.37$44,600$38,160
Wisconsin9000.30.57$37,950$37,880
Colorado8900.30.57$42,200$39,780
Arkansas8600.71.24$38,340$38,340
Hawaii7701.22.32$36,230$33,440
Oregon7300.40.69$48,230$47,620
New Mexico7100.81.54$36,920$35,710
Rhode Island6001.22.28$43,770$43,420
Mississippi5500.50.88$33,490$29,660
Maine5300.81.56$44,860$43,050
Iowa4900.30.59$39,030$37,260
Kansas4800.30.63$38,460$37,320
Idaho4500.50.99$34,390$35,430
North Dakota3800.91.66$46,750$47,520
Alaska3301.01.91$43,660$45,730
Delaware3100.61.21$37,510$34,390
New Hampshire2800.40.76$42,440$40,590
Nevada2700.20.33$43,540$40,410
Wyoming2701.01.79$34,690$33,630
Montana2500.50.91$45,010$43,870
Louisiana2400.10.23$44,630$30,850
Nebraska1600.20.30$40,650$41,440
Vermont1200.40.76$38,970$38,530

The occupation in context

Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Residential Advisors stands number 299 by employment and number 715 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Personal Care and Service Occupations, the group median wage is $37,320 across 32 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 5% more than its group median, and it supplies 2.6% of the group's 3,159,920 jobs. In 20 of the 51 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $39,180, 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 3,900 jobs, 4.7% of the national total. Two rankings follow across the 275 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 areaEmploymentMean annualMedian annual
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ3,900$47,530$44,540
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA2,780$51,260$45,710
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV2,770$46,080$41,360
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH2,520$49,670$47,340
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI2,020$48,470$48,010
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD1,910$41,190$38,340
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN1,740$42,030$39,730
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD1,270$43,010$38,290
Pittsburgh, PA1,180$40,070$37,330
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA1,140$46,870$44,430

Highest-paying metros (500+ jobs)

Metropolitan areaEmploymentMean annualMedian annual
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA1,110$56,590$55,120
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA830$53,030$52,330
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA2,780$51,260$45,710
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA680$50,760$47,570
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH2,520$49,670$47,340
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI2,020$48,470$48,010
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ3,900$47,530$44,540
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA1,140$46,870$44,430
Worcester, MA800$46,580$45,000
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV2,770$46,080$41,360

At the other end, Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN posts the lowest mean pay among metros with at least 500 jobs, $28,910 a year, against $56,590 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. The lowest-paying large metro and the highest are both real markets for this occupation; the difference between them is the geography premium, or penalty, in cash terms.

What the median pay looks like as a budget

Budget arithmetic on the median: $3,265 a month before tax, $1,507 biweekly, $753 weekly. Moving from the 25th percentile ($33,890) to the 75th ($47,590) is worth $13,700 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. To turn any of these gross figures into spendable money, run them through the paycheck calculator; to weigh an offer against your current role, use the salary calculator; to test a raise against prices, the raise vs inflation calculator.

To place a real offer: a salary of $43,098 would sit between the median ($39,180) and the 75th percentile ($47,590), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $33,890, is $5,290 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.

Related occupations in Personal Care and Service Occupations

Pay for the neighboring roles in the same BLS major group: Gambling Service Workers, All Other, Shampooers, Entertainment Attendants and Related Workers, All Other, Gambling and Sports Book Writers and Runners, Costume Attendants, Embalmers. The full directory is on the Careers hub.

Sources and data: SOC 39-9041 in the federal wage survey: national ladder from file oesm24nat, state table from oesm24st, metro tables from oesm24ma, all in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2024 release of April 2, 2025, downloaded November 5, 2026 from bls.gov. Figures are survey estimates for wage and salary employment, not job-posting data. See also our data methodology. Figures are estimates for planning, not financial advice.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average salary for Residential Advisors?

BLS publishes both centers: the mean annual wage is $41,590 and the median is $39,180 (May 2024). The median is usually the better answer to what a typical worker makes, because the mean is pulled by the highest earners.

Where do Residential Advisors earn the most?

At state level, Oregon posts the highest median at $47,620. At metro level, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA leads the 500-plus-jobs pay table at a $56,590 mean.

How many Residential Advisors jobs are there?

82,810 nationally in May 2024. The biggest metro employer is New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ with 3,900 jobs.

Is $39,180 a good salary for Residential Advisors?

It is the exact middle of the occupation: half of the 82,810 counted workers earn more, half earn less. Against the occupation's own ladder, an offer above $47,590 is a top-quartile offer and one below $33,890 is a bottom-quartile one.