SalaryCPA

Data lineage

Where our numbers come from

A research data product is only as trustworthy as its provenance. This page documents the exact sources behind every figure on SalaryCPA, how often they refresh, and what is measured versus modeled.

Last updated June 2026 · Baseline vintage: May 2025

Primary source

BLS OEWS — the verified baseline

Verified

$83,680

national median · May 2025

The foundation of the site is a single direct federal measurement: the OEWS wage for Accountants and Auditors (SOC 13-2011). BLS publishes the same measurement for every state and metro area it covers, so a location page shows pay measured there — not scaled from the national figure.

Publisher
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Program
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
Occupation
Accountants and Auditors (SOC 13-2011)
Release / vintage
May 2025 (reference year 2025)
Geographic scope
National, all 50 states + DC, and metropolitan areas
Series (national)
OEUN000000000000132011 (employment & wage measures)
License
Public-domain U.S. government data
Source page
bls.gov/oes — Accountants and Auditors

Data classes

Verified vs. modeled — a hard line

Every figure on the site belongs to exactly one clearly-labeled class. We never move a number between classes by hand.

Verified

Verified (BLS OEWS)

Direct OEWS measurements for the broad accounting occupation — nationally, by state, and by metro. Employment, mean, median, and the 10th/25th/75th/90th wage percentiles, reported as BLS publishes them. This is the only data we call verified.

Est.

Estimate (modeled)

Role, seniority, experience, industry, employer type, and the CPA-license premium — derived from the verified baseline through documented multipliers. BLS does not break the occupation down this way, so these figures are labeled Estimate and are excluded from the verified dataset export.

The exact multipliers behind every modeled figure are published in our methodology, and the principles that govern the labeling live in our research standards.

Cadence

How often the data refreshes

The BLS OEWS program publishes a new release roughly once per year. We refresh our verified baseline when a new OEWS vintage lands, re-import the national, state, and metro measurements, and re-stamp each record with its new source year. The current baseline reflects the May 2025 release.

Modeled estimates are recomputed from the refreshed baseline on the same schedule. Moderated submissions are incorporated on a rolling basis and progressively sharpen the modeled layer as sample sizes grow.

Integrity

How we keep the lineage honest

  • Each wage record stores its source name, source URL, source year, import method, and import timestamp — provenance travels with the data, not just this page.
  • A figure is only ever relabeled Verified after a real import against BLS data — never by editorial decision.
  • We correct errors promptly. Report a discrepancy to perrygrimaldi@gmail.com.

How to read these numbers

Verified

National, state, and metro pay comes straight from the federal wage measurement for accountants & auditors — direct and source-backed, not scaled from anything.

Market estimate

Role, experience, CPA-license, and employer figures are modeled on top of that measurement and labeled Estimate — the federal data does not break those out, so we never present them as measurements.

Full methodology View the source