Compensation costs for private industry workers in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area (CSA) increased by 3.7 percent for the year ending September 2025, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund stated that this growth follows a higher annual gain of 5.3 percent recorded one year ago.
Across the United States, compensation costs rose by 3.5 percent during the same period.
Wages and salaries, which make up the largest share of compensation costs, grew at a rate of 3.9 percent in San Jose over the past year. Nationwide, wages and salaries saw an increase of 3.6 percent during this timeframe.
San Jose is among 15 metropolitan areas nationwide—and one of four in the West region—for which 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 wage and salary increases specifically, Miami reported the largest rise at 5.9 percent, while Washington-Baltimore-Arlington had the smallest at 1.9 percent.
In comparison with other major western metropolitan areas—Los Angeles-Long Beach, Phoenix-Mesa, and Seattle-Tacoma—San Jose’s increase in compensation costs was within a range that extended from 4.7 percent to 3.1 percent in those cities for September 2025. The rise in wages and salaries locally was also comparable to gains between 4.3 percent and 2.6 percent across these other western regions.
The locality data form part of the national Employment Cost Index (ECI), which tracks quarterly changes in compensation costs—including both wages/salaries and employer benefit expenses—while controlling for shifts among occupations or industries.
Further information about national ECI figures by sector, occupation group, union status, and government level can be found on the Employment Cost Index website. Additional details for regional and local areas are accessible via the Western Information Office homepage.
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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