Compensation costs for private industry workers in the Atlanta–Athens-Clarke County–Sandy Springs, GA-AL Combined Statistical Area rose by 2.9 percent over the year ending September 2025, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee stated that the previous year saw a higher increase of 4.8 percent.
Nationwide, compensation costs increased by 3.5 percent during the same period.
Wages and salaries, which are the largest component of compensation costs, grew by 2.8 percent in Atlanta for the year ending September 2025. In comparison, wages and salaries across the United States went up by 3.6 percent during this time.
Atlanta is one of fifteen metropolitan areas in the country—and one of five in the South—for which locality compensation cost data are collected. Among these large metro 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 had the largest at 5.9 percent while Washington-Baltimore-Arlington saw the smallest at 1.9 percent.
Within southern metropolitan areas (Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston-Pasadena, Miami, Washington), Atlanta’s annual rise in compensation costs was near the lower end at 2.9 percent; rates among these cities ranged from 5.7 to 2.2 percent over the same period.
The Employment Cost Index (ECI) provides these statistics and measures quarterly changes in employer expenses for wages and benefits independently from shifts in occupational or industrial employment patterns.
Further details on methodology and additional data are available through resources such as the Employment Cost Index website and regional information pages provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Atlanta combined statistical area includes counties across Georgia—such as Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett—and Chambers County in Alabama.
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