Business & site selection
US metros with the lowest service wages
The lowest customer-service and retail wages, for support and store operations.
For contact centers and retail footprints, the wage floor is the model. These metros (75k+ residents) carry the lowest customer-service wages we track.
Published by WhereToHQ research. Calculated from committed source data with no generated editorial text.
What the ranking shows
- Laredo, TX leads this list at $34,420 for wage: customer service.
- Across the 15 published entries, wage: customer service ranges from $34,420 to $36,370. The other columns show tradeoffs that the headline order cannot capture.
| # | City | Wage: Customer service | Wage: Retail salesperson | Cost of living index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laredo, TX258k | $34,420 | $27,530 | 82 |
| 2 | Lawton, OK91k | $35,080 | $28,150 | 74 |
| 3 | Lake Charles, LA81k | $35,080 | $28,780 | 83 |
| 4 | Fayetteville, NC211k | $35,130 | $30,440 | 85 |
| 5 | Auburn, AL81k | $35,810 | $29,140 | 90 |
| 6 | McAllen, TX145k | $35,830 | $27,420 | 83 |
| 7 | Edinburg, TX105k | $35,830 | $27,420 | 82 |
| 8 | Mission, TX87k | $35,830 | $27,420 | 80 |
| 9 | Pharr, TX80k | $35,830 | $27,420 | 78 |
| 10 | Lubbock, TX265k | $35,940 | $28,480 | 85 |
| 11 | Yuma, AZ100k | $36,020 | $33,840 | 87 |
| 12 | San Angelo, TX100k | $36,080 | $28,390 | 84 |
| 13 | Greenville, NC93k | $36,310 | $29,250 | 85 |
| 14 | Athens, GA127k | $36,320 | $29,240 | 91 |
| 15 | Wichita Falls, TX103k | $36,370 | $28,610 | 80 |
Ranked from public data we track (US Census/ACS, BLS, EIA, FEMA, NOAA, Tax Foundation) and recomputed on every data refresh. Figures are estimates for comparison, not advice; open any city to see all facets.
Candidate rules: 75,000 or more residents. Ranking rule: Wage: Customer service, lowest first.
WhereToHQ loads at most the 500 largest eligible national candidates, or 300 candidates for a state list, before applying the published rules. Missing values are excluded from a direct sort or hard filter. In a weighted score, an unknown value is neutral rather than favorable.