Occupational Health and Safety Specialists Salary - BLS OEWS Wage Benchmarks
SOC 19-5011 · National · May 2025 OEWS Data
Is this a competitive Occupational Health and Safety Specialists salary in 2026?
Based on BLS OEWS wage percentiles, JOLTS June 2026 demand signals, and ECI Q2 2026 wage growth.
How Occupational Health and Safety Specialists pay is moving in 2026
Trend, demand, and spread context from BLS OEWS, JOLTS, and ECI
Median pay for this role rose 7.4% between the May 2024 and May 2025 BLS surveys, outpacing the 2.5% wage growth of Professional & Business Services (BLS ECI).
Professional & Business Services is running a 5.5% job-openings rate with quits at 2.2% (BLS JOLTS). Demand has cooled for 2 straight months (6.2% down to 5.5%).
Top earners (P90) make about 2.5 times what entry-level (P10) workers make in this role. That spread is in the typical range for U.S. occupations; standard 80% to 120% pay bands around the median work well.
- Aug 4, 2026JOLTS June 2026: sector openings eased to 5.5% (down 0.3pp), still the highest of any major sector. Quits held at 2.2%.
- Jul 31, 2026ECI Q2 2026: sector wages growing 2.5% per year. Nationally, wages rose 3.2% while CPI hit 3.5%, so real wages turned negative.
Commentary is generated from published BLS figures (OEWS May 2025 vs May 2024, JOLTS June 2026, ECI Q2 2026) and refreshed each release. It is interpretation, not a BLS product.
The national median salary for Occupational Health and Safety Specialists is $90,147 per year ($43.34/hr) according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. The middle 50% of earners make between $69,555 and $111,696 annually. Top earners at the 90th percentile reach $134,950 per year. There are approximately 140,610 occupational health and safety specialists employed in the United States.
About This Role
Review, evaluate, and analyze work environments and design programs and procedures to control, eliminate, and prevent disease or injury caused by chemical, physical, and biological agents or ergonomic factors. May conduct inspections and enforce adherence to laws and regulations governing the health and safety of individuals. May be employed in the public or private sector.
Career Outlook
About This Data
Wage figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025 release. OEWS surveys roughly 1.1 million establishments annually. It is the most comprehensive employer-reported wage dataset in the United States.
P10 through P90 percentiles represent the wage distribution across all surveyed employers (not self-reported by workers). Geographic adjustments use BLS-derived cost multipliers calibrated from regional wage variation.
Wages are estimates. Individual compensation depends on experience, education, employer size, industry, and negotiation. Use this as benchmark context, not absolute ground truth.
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