Compensation costs for private industry workers in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area (CSA) increased by 3.7 percent over the year ending September 2025, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund stated that this follows an annual gain of 5.3 percent reported one year earlier. Nationally, compensation costs rose by 3.5 percent during the same period.
Wages and salaries, which make up the largest portion of compensation costs, grew by 3.9 percent in San Jose for the year ending September 2025. Across the United States, wages and salaries increased by 3.6 percent.
San Jose is among 15 metropolitan areas nationwide—and one of four in the West region—where locality compensation cost data are available. In these areas, annual changes in compensation costs ranged from a high of 5.7 percent in Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale to a low of 2.1 percent in Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor as of September 2025. For wages and salaries specifically, Miami saw the largest increase at 5.9 percent, while Washington-Baltimore-Arlington experienced the smallest at 1.9 percent.
Within western metropolitan areas, San Jose’s annual increase in compensation costs was measured at 3.7 percent for September 2025, compared to increases ranging from 4.7 percent to 3.1 percent in Los Angeles-Long Beach, Phoenix-Mesa, and Seattle-Tacoma. The area’s wage and salary growth rate of 3.9 percent was within a range seen across these other western localities.
The Employment Cost Index (ECI), which tracks quarterly changes in compensation costs such as wages and benefits without being affected by employment shifts among occupations or industries, includes these locality figures as part of its national analysis.
Additional ECI data are available online for various industries, occupational groups, union status categories, and government levels through resources such as the Employment Cost Index website and regional homepages.
The San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland CSA covers Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, and Stanislaus Counties.
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