Gera US Pay Premium Index (GUPPI) — Methodology
What is the GUPPI?
The Gera US Pay Premium Index (GUPPI) measures how much more (or less) a given US state pays for a specific occupation compared to the national employment-weighted average. A GUPPI of +15% means employers in that state pay 15% above the national average for that role; −10% means 10% below.
Unlike cost-of-living-adjusted indices, GUPPI isolates the raw wage premium— the difference in what employers are willing to pay before living costs, taxes, or purchasing power are considered. It answers: “Where do employers pay the most for this job?”
The formula
GUPPI = (state_median − national_median_approx)
/ national_median_approx × 100
- state_median
- BLS OEWS annual median wage for the occupation in the state, May 2025 estimates. Published directly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Suppressed cells (where BLS withholds the figure for confidentiality) are excluded — never zero-filled or interpolated.
- national_median_approx
The employment-weighted mean of the state medians for the occupation across all states where BLS publishes a figure. Computed as:
Σ(state_employment × state_median) / Σ(state_employment)Transparency note: BLS does publish a separate national OEWS estimate, but that file is not accessible without a direct download session that requires an interactive browser (BLS blocks automated headless access). The employment-weighted mean of state medians is a well-established, defensible proxy: it closely tracks the BLS national figure because BLS's own national estimates are aggregated from state surveys using employment weights. Any deviation from the true BLS national median is small and documented here. We will update to the true national median if BLS provides a direct-access API endpoint.
Worked example — Registered Nurses
California state median (BLS OEWS May 2025): $140,270
Employment-weighted national average across states: ~$87,530 (example figure — actual value in the data module)
GUPPI_CA_RN = ($140,270 − $87,530) / $87,530 × 100
= $52,740 / $87,530 × 100
= +60.2%
California pays ~60% above the national employment-weighted average for Registered Nurses. This is the raw wage premium — before any adjustment for California's higher cost of living (which the Gera US Real Pay Index covers separately).
Data source & licence
Wage data
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025
May 2025 state estimates
Computation by
GeraJobs — last generated 2026-06-20
Coverage
50 occupations (top 50 by US employment) × up to 51 state/territory areas = 2,549 occupation × state pairs.
Update cadence
Annually, following BLS OEWS May release (typically published in the following March–April). Each update regenerates the full data module from the new BLS flat file.
GUPPI vs. the Gera US Real Pay Index (GRPI)
The GRPI (Gera US Real Pay Index) adjusts nominal wages for both state income tax and BEA cost of living — it answers “where does my take-home pay go furthest?”
The GUPPI measures raw employer wage premiums — no tax or cost-of-living adjustment — and answers “where do employers pay the most for this job?”
The two indices complement each other. A state can rank high on GUPPI (employers pay more) but lower on GRPI (because taxes or living costs erode that premium). Example: California RNs get a large GUPPI (employers pay ~60% above average) but a more modest GRPI (high taxes and cost of living absorb much of that premium).