Compensation costs for private industry workers in the Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale, FL Combined Statistical Area increased by 5.7 percent for the year ending in September 2025, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that this increase is higher than the previous year’s annual gain of 2.2 percent.
Nationally, compensation costs rose by 3.5 percent over the same period.
Wages and salaries in Miami, which represent the largest part of compensation costs, grew at a rate of 5.9 percent during the 12 months ending in September 2025. Across the United States, wages and salaries increased by 3.6 percent during this time.
Miami is one of fifteen metropolitan areas nationwide where locality compensation cost data are available, and one of five such areas in the South region. Of these fifteen largest metropolitan areas, Miami had both the highest increase in compensation costs (5.7 percent) and in wages and salaries (5.9 percent). The lowest increases were recorded in Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor (2.1 percent for compensation costs) and Washington-Baltimore-Arlington (1.9 percent for wages and salaries).
Among southern metropolitan areas tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics—Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston-Pasadena, and Washington—Miami’s increase was higher than others, which saw advances ranging from 4.5 percent to 2.2 percent for compensation costs and from 5.0 percent to 1.9 percent for wages and salaries.
According to the release: “Locality compensation costs are part of the national Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures quarterly changes in compensation costs (wages and salaries and employer costs for employee benefits) free from the influence of employment shifts among occupations and industries.”
The report also provides resources for further information about methodology through documents such as the National Compensation Measures Handbook of Methods and online tools like the Employment Cost Index website and regional homepages.
The Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale area includes Broward, Indian River, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie Counties.
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