Extending the NCES CWI

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Comparable Wage Index (CWI) is a measure of the systematic, regional variations in the salaries of college graduates who are not educators. It can be used by researchers to make better financial comparisons across geographic areas.

The NCES CWI has not been updated since 2005. However, Dr. Lori Taylor has updated the NCES CWI through 2013 using her original methodology. At the request of other researchers, those unofficial files have been posted here.

A new CWI based on the 2012-2014 American Community Survey is also now available.