Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels job market in Florida
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels in Florida.
Occupation pay
What Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels earn in Florida
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$76,040Florida- Middle 50% of published wages
- $53,250 – $102,540
- U.S. median annual wage
- $92,460
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Florida
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels, compared with the Florida median of $76,040.
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL$92,580+21.8% vs. state
Jacksonville, FL$83,190+9.4% vs. state
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL$79,720+4.8% vs. state
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL$78,280+2.9% vs. state
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL$77,630+2.1% vs. state
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL$77,180+1.5% vs. state
View 6 more published metro areas
Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL$75,370−0.9% vs. state
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL$74,260−2.3% vs. state
North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL$71,840−5.5% vs. state
Port St. Lucie, FL$69,050−9.2% vs. state
Naples-Marco Island, FL$65,150−14.3% vs. state
Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL$63,010−17.1% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Florida median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Florida’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 221,259 represented establishments, 81.75% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels in Florida
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
This occupation is more concentrated in the state
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels account for 2.14 times their national share of employment in Florida, according to OEWS May 2025. This is the published location quotient. The state estimate is 5,040 jobs, 13.7% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.51 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Concentration describes employment share, not current hiring or future growth.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market
The largest metro employment market in this Florida comparison is Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, with 1,710 estimated jobs and median annual pay of $78,280 in OEWS May 2025. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL has the highest median pay, $92,580, alongside an employment estimate of 60. Among 12 metros with both usable measures, its median pay is 18.3% higher than the largest market's. The employment estimates describe existing jobs, not available vacancies.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSSome metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.
Industry groups are pulling in opposite directions
The overall industry figure masks differing movements among the leading industry groups associated with this occupation in Florida. The groups examined cover 94.5% of its national industry mix. In January to March 2026, year-over-year employment changed +0.9% in Leisure and hospitality and -7.5% in Federal.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWPublished median pay is below the U.S. median
Florida's published median annual wage for captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels is 17.8% below the national median in OEWS May 2025. The state estimate is $76,040, compared with $92,460 across the U.S. These medians are not adjusted for living costs and do not describe every worker.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Florida industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Florida · 2026 Q1-0.4%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-1.0%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Florida | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +1.7% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +1.3% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +0.3% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +0.6% | 100% |
| 2025 Q2 | +0.4% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | -0.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | +0.2% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | -0.4% | 100% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Florida’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -1.0%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels Work
The occupation mix determines which Florida industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 77.8% | -0.1% | 150,834 | $1,343 |
| Leisure and hospitality | 3.7% | +0.9% | 70,425 | $779 |
| Professional and business services | 3.4% | -0.3% | 230,018 | $1,859 |
| Federal | 3.4% | -7.5% | 1,971 | $2,142 |
| State and local | 3.4% | +0.1% | 3,860 | $1,292 |
| Construction | 2.6% | -2.3% | 88,586 | $1,450 |
Which industries are growing?
2 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Florida employment change are listed.
- Leisure and hospitality+0.9%
- State and local+0.1%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Florida context
Current Florida Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Florida. They are not Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Florida
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 105.35 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 104.58 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 103.98 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 104.20 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 104.74 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 104.90 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 104.92 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 105.58 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 105.52 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 105.80 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 106.56 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 107.58 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 107.28 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 107.05 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Statewide layoff notices
Statewide layoff-notice filings
Florida statewide22 notices in this source
Notice dates from Aug 4, 2026 to Nov 1, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Florida’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.
Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. Florida’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.
FloridaCommerce (Department of Commerce) About WARN data
Source last checked
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels in Florida FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels in Florida?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Florida industries weighted to Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels changed -0.4% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -1.0% nationwide.
Are wages for Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels rising in Florida?
QCEW does not publish pay for Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +4.8% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Florida industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 100% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 100% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels
- SOC code
- 53-5021
- State
- Florida
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -0.4%State data coverage 100%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -1.0%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.6 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +2.4%State data coverage 100%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +4.8%State data coverage 100%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels/florida#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.