Atlanta ranks in the top 15 percent in the nation in salaries, but there have been recent signs that wages have been on the decline as workers try to do more with less.
The average Atlanta wage earner makes about $22.00 an hour, or roughly $46,440 a year. That’s the finding in a new report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Atlanta ranks 64th out of 409 markets surveyed for the report, according to the government. The highest-paying market in America is San Jose, CA, where the average salary is $67,850. The lowest paying market is Myrtle Beach, SC, where the median wage is $30,870.
“There hasn’t been a whole lot of growth,” said Emily Sanders at Sanders Financial Management in Norcross.
In fact, she said, there was actually a period where wages here dropped. “During the recession, wages here in Atlanta decreased by about 4.5 percent.”
There is more recent evidence that wages have modestly rebounded, according to Sanders. Still, workers in Atlanta continue to face increasing pressure from their employers to do more for less, as the economy continues to pressure employers to contain or even cut costs.