To use BLS and SOC codes to spot high‑paying occupations, you mainly need two tools: the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) structure and the BLS wage databases/handbooks that sit on top of it.
Step 1: Understand the SOC code
The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system is a federal standard for classifying jobs; most BLS occupation data is organized by these codes. Each SOC code has six digits: the first two are the major group, the third is the minor group, the fourth and fifth are the broad occupation, and the sixth is the detailed occupation (for example, 15‑1252 for software developers). Definitions are written at the detailed level (sixth digit not zero), and you are supposed to choose the code that best matches the actual work performed, not just the job title.
If you do not know your SOC code, BLS recommends starting at the SOC home page and browsing by major group, then narrowing down, or using the “How do I find my SOC code?” guidance to read definitions and choose the closest match. You can also use ONET OnLine to search by job title, then read the linked SOC code and description there; ONET is explicitly based on the same SOC system and provides cross‑links back to BLS.
Step 2: Go to BLS occupation pages for pay data
Once you know the occupation (or at least the title), there are two main “one‑stop” entry points for salary information:
Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) – The BLS career guide with a page for each occupation (searchable by title). Each OOH page lists what workers do, work environment, education requirements, and a Pay section showing recent median annual wage and comparisons to the overall median. On the OOH homepage, you can also click “Highest paying” to see occupations sorted by pay without even knowing codes.
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) – The main BLS wage tables by occupation and area. The OEWS overview page links to detailed tables with employment and wage estimates for each SOC code at the national level, by state, and by metro area, including mean wage, median wage, and percentile wages.
For a practical workflow: look up your occupation in the OOH to get a quick sense of median pay and role description, then drill into OEWS tables to see more granular wage percentiles and geographic differentiation.
Step 3: Use OEWS query/tables to find high salaries by SOC
The OEWS system is where you can systematically scan for high‑salary occupations using SOC codes. From the OEWS home or “Wages by area and occupation” links, you can:
Select “National” or a specific state/metro and then download or view tables listing occupations by SOC code with mean and percentile wages.
Look up a specific SOC code to see its average and percentile wages, then compare it to related codes in the same major group (e.g., all 15‑**** computer occupations).
Many state labor sites mirror this and explicitly note that you can use OEWS wage statistics to set wages or compare wages across occupations and areas, making it straightforward to identify which SOC codes are at the top of the pay distribution in your target region. If you export tables to a spreadsheet, you can sort by mean or 90th‑percentile wage to instantly see the highest‑paying codes.
Step 4: Connect SOC, BLS, and O*NET as a single workflow
BLS itself provides a “Statistics by occupation” hub that points you to OOH, OEWS, and other series all indexed by SOC, making it a de facto one‑stop dashboard. A practical, repeatable workflow to understand high salaries is:
Find or confirm SOC code – Use SOC guides or O*NET to map your job title to the correct SOC code and detailed occupation definition.
Get a narrative & median pay – Open the OOH page for that occupation to see median pay, job outlook, and related occupations that may pay more.
Compare detailed wages – Go to OEWS national or state tables and pull the full wage distribution (mean, median, percentiles) for that SOC code, then compare to other SOC codes in your field.
Scan for top earners – Within OEWS tables, sort or filter by average or percentile wages to see which SOC codes are consistently in the highest ranges for your region or nationally.
Used together, the SOC structure, Occupational Outlook Handbook, and OEWS wage data turn BLS.gov into a coherent, one‑stop system for understanding which occupations (and SOC codes) command the highest salaries and where.
