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Pay · 53-2012

Commercial Pilots earn $123,220 a year at the midpoint

Pay in this work stretches a long way: the lowest tenth earn about $58,850, the highest tenth about $266,620, and the middle sits at $123,220.

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$123,220median a year · United States
—an hour $146,080average 47,630people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$84,54025th $123,220median $190,44075th
$58,85010th percentile $266,62090th percentile
$84,540a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$232,160best-paying state · Connecticut
$83,710lowest-paying state · South Dakota
+88%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

Paid by the yearThe survey publishes no hourly figure for this occupation — it is typically salaried, often on a school or contract year.
State matters a lotThe same job pays $232,160 in Connecticut and $83,710 in South Dakota — a gap of $148,450 a year.

Commercial pilot earnings, from starting pay to the best-paid 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

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An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

Examples

Resumes written for this kind of job.

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Commercial pilot pay rate, hourly and yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$123,219a year

Commercial pilot wages across the states

The 37 states where the most people do this work, of 48 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.77 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Connecticut $232,160 $86,840 $86,840 — $321,270 460
New Jersey $226,710 $52,560 $52,560 — $326,930 670
New York $177,430 $63,080 $63,080 — $297,680 1,070
California $165,590 $63,890 $63,890 — $500,170 4,900
Ohio $150,330 $60,300 $60,300 — $219,140 2,680
Georgia $145,100 $53,010 $53,010 — $247,410 1,020
Colorado $139,680 $59,780 $59,780 — $269,630 1,240
Texas $137,960 $68,460 $68,460 — $259,990 4,120
Pennsylvania $134,030 $74,610 $74,610 — $263,290 530
North Dakota $133,010 $65,630 $65,630 — $237,050 370
Maryland $131,210 $58,070 $58,070 — $229,430 360
Kentucky $129,990 $83,130 $83,130 — $355,390 800
Wisconsin $129,860 $66,390 $66,390 — $269,990 1,090
North Carolina $127,310 $61,050 $61,050 — $243,090 1,520
Michigan $126,670 $58,280 $58,280 — $205,900 1,390
Oklahoma $126,180 $75,880 $75,880 — $220,610 540
Illinois $126,100 $51,890 $51,890 — $376,830 1,170
Florida $121,890 $62,590 $62,590 — $229,110 6,340
Oregon $120,760 $50,960 $50,960 — $307,900 670
Washington $117,730 $70,420 $70,420 — $314,200 890
Tennessee $117,480 $54,740 $54,740 — $204,650 1,030
Hawaii $113,030 $58,470 $58,470 — $214,630 350
Kansas $105,440 $49,060 $49,060 — $175,820 680
Nevada $105,340 $51,350 $51,350 — $211,260 1,100
Virginia $104,890 $55,310 $55,310 — $228,970 1,130
Indiana $104,160 $63,250 $63,250 — $221,260 960
Montana $103,690 $73,440 $73,440 — $226,770 330
Arizona $103,060 $64,290 $64,290 — $201,660 1,540
Missouri $102,990 $50,790 $50,790 — $212,000 670
Alabama $101,420 $57,030 $57,030 — $163,100 780
Alaska $100,120 $49,610 $49,610 — $163,410 1,000
Utah $99,610 $60,060 $60,060 — $175,000 540
Minnesota $98,630 $42,670 $42,670 — $261,800 910
New Mexico $97,920 $34,680 $34,680 — $219,010 370
Louisiana $95,940 $46,990 $46,990 — $169,410 910
Arkansas $94,410 $43,290 $43,290 — $171,500 460
South Dakota $83,710 $51,590 $51,590 — $157,840 320

No estimate is published for 2 states: the survey withholds a figure when too few employers report it. Nothing has been filled in for them.

Ranked 58 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 93% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 56 Economics Teachers, Postsecondary $123,920
  2. 57 Medical and Health Services Managers $123,860
  3. 58 Commercial Pilots $123,220
  4. 59 Engineers, All Other $122,930
  5. 60 Nuclear Power Reactor Operators $122,890

Resumes for commercial pilots

Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.

SBS International Maestro SuiteMicrosoft Office softwareLitchiAeroPlannerAirline Pilots Daily Aviation Log PPCAirSmith FlightPromptdoXstor Flight Level LogbookElectronic aircraft information databases
  • Checked aircraft prior to flights to ensure that the engines, controls, instruments, and other systems are functioning properly.
  • Considered airport altitudes, outside temperatures, plane weights, and wind speeds and directions to calculate the speed needed to become airborne.
  • Used instrumentation to pilot aircraft when visibility is poor.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Questions people ask most

What is a commercial pilot’s yearly income?

A commercial pilot makes a median of $123,220 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $84,540 and $190,440.

What is the starting pay for a commercial pilot?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $84,540 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $58,850.

Which state pays commercial pilots the most?

Connecticut, with a median of $232,160 a year.

How many people work as commercial pilots?

About 47,630 in the United States — number 58 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays about the same

Median pay within $650 of what commercial pilots earn — $123,220 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations