Compensation costs for private industry workers in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH Combined Statistical Area rose by 3.3 percent over the year ending September 2025, according to a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Michael G. Phinney, Acting Regional Commissioner, stated that this increase compares to a 1.7 percent rise recorded one year earlier. Nationally, compensation costs increased by 3.5 percent during the same period.
Wages and salaries in the Boston area grew at a rate of 3.2 percent over the twelve months ending September 2025, while nationwide wages and salaries saw a 3.6 percent increase.
Boston is among fifteen metropolitan areas across the United States where locality compensation cost data are collected and one of three such areas in the Northeast region. Across these major metropolitan 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 experienced the largest gain at 5.9 percent while Washington-Baltimore-Arlington had the smallest at 1.9 percent.
Within the Northeast region’s three metropolitan areas with available data, Boston’s annual increase in compensation costs was slightly lower than New York-Newark (3.8 percent) and similar to Philadelphia-Reading-Camden (3.4 percent). The area’s wage and salary growth was also less than New York’s (3.9 percent) but close to Philadelphia’s (3.4 percent).
“Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 3.3 percent in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH Combined Statistical Area (CSA) for the year ending in September 2025,” said Acting Regional Commissioner Michael G. Phinney.
The Employment Cost Index measures quarterly changes in employer labor costs independent of employment shifts among occupations or industries and includes both wages/salaries and employer benefit expenses.
Additional information about national ECI data—including breakdowns by industry, occupation group, union status, as well as details for civilian and government employees—can be found on the Employment Cost Index website. The national Employment Cost Index Summary is also available online along with regional resources via the Northeast Information Office homepage.
The next release of Employment Cost Index data is scheduled for February 10, 2026.
The Boston-Worcester-Providence CSA covers counties across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire including Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, Worcester (MA); Bristol, Kent, Newport, Providence, Washington (RI); Belknap, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham and Strafford (NH).
For more details on geographic coverage or historical timelines related to wage growth tracking within American cities see Tracking Wage Growth in American Cities.
