The US Average Salary for full-time workers reached a median of $65,052 per year ($1,251 per week) in the second quarter of 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pay peaks at $72,020 for workers aged 35 to 44, while men earn a median of $1,395 weekly compared to $1,143 for women across the full-time workforce aged 25 and older.
Average Salary in America 2026
The US Average Salary picture for 2026 shows a workforce that is earning more in nominal terms but still splitting sharply along the lines of age, sex, education, and geography. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that median weekly earnings for the nation’s 120.9 million full-time wage and salary workers stood at $1,251 in the second quarter of 2026, translating to roughly $65,052 a year for the typical full-time employee. That marks a 4.6% jump from the same quarter a year earlier, outpacing the 3.9% rise in consumer prices over the same period, which means real buying power actually improved for most workers this year rather than merely keeping pace with inflation.
Behind that single national number sits enormous variation. A recent graduate in their early twenties, a mid-career manager in their forties, and a retiree working part-time past 65 all fall under the same “average,” yet their paychecks look nothing alike. Location matters just as much: a software engineer in Seattle and a retail associate in rural Mississippi can be separated by a six-figure gap. This report breaks the US Average Salary down by every major demographic slice job seekers and employers actually search for, drawing exclusively from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the US Census Bureau.
Interesting Facts on US Average Salary
| Metric | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| National median annual salary (full-time) | $65,052 | Q2 2026 |
| National mean annual wage (all occupations) | $69,770 | May 2025 |
| Full-time wage and salary workforce | 120.9 million | Q2 2026 |
| Year-over-year wage growth | 4.6% | Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025 |
| Peak-earning age band | 35–44 years ($72,020 median) | Q3 2025 |
| Gender pay ratio (women vs men, full-time) | 81.9% | 2025 annual average |
| Highest-paying state (avg weekly wage) | New York, $2,363/week | March 2026 |
| Lowest-paying state (avg weekly wage) | West Virginia, $1,188/week | March 2026 |
| Highest-paying sector | Information, $2,066/week | July 2026 |
| Bachelor’s degree earnings premium over high school | 80% higher median weekly pay | 2025 annual average |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
These headline numbers set the frame for everything that follows in this report. The $65,052 median and the higher $69,770 mean coexist because a small share of very high earners pulls the average upward, which is why the median remains the more reliable gauge of what a typical full-time worker actually takes home. The 4.6% year-over-year wage growth outpacing 3.9% inflation is the first sign that 2026 has delivered real, not just nominal, gains for most of the 120.9 million full-time workers the BLS tracks, and it explains why sentiment around pay has improved compared with the tighter years earlier in the decade.
The remaining rows point straight at where the biggest US Average Salary gaps still sit. A 35–44 peak of $72,020 confirms that pay keeps rising well into the forties before leveling off, while the 81.9% gender ratio shows the wage gap has not closed despite years of attention. The nearly $1,200 weekly spread between New York and West Virginia, and the more than threefold gap between the Information sector and leisure and hospitality, both signal that geography and industry choice move the needle on pay far more than any single year’s overall growth rate. Every section below unpacks one of these gaps in full detail.
Average Salary by Age in the US 2026
| Age Group | Median Annual Salary | Median Weekly Earnings |
|---|---|---|
| 16–19 years | $32,344 | $622 |
| 20–24 years | $41,392 | $796 |
| 25–34 years | $59,800 | $1,150 |
| 35–44 years | $72,020 | $1,385 |
| 45–54 years | $71,604 | $1,377 |
| 55–64 years | $68,744 | $1,322 |
| 65 years and over | $62,036 | $1,193 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
The US Average Salary by age follows a clear arc. Teenagers and workers in their early twenties earn the least, largely because they are working part-time, entry-level, or seasonal roles while still building experience or finishing school. Pay climbs sharply between the early twenties and mid-thirties as workers move into full-time career tracks, gain credentials, and take on more responsibility. The $59,800 median for the 25–34 bracket already sits close to the national average, reflecting how quickly early-career professionals catch up once they leave entry-level positions behind.
Earnings peak in the 35–44 window at $72,020, a stage when workers typically hold mid-to-senior roles and have accumulated a decade or more of tenure. The 45–54 bracket sits almost as high at $71,604, meaning workers in their prime years, roughly age 35 through 54, earn well above the national median. After 55, pay eases gradually rather than collapsing: the 55–64 group still holds a median of $68,744, and even workers past 65 report a median of $62,036, only modestly below the national figure.
Average Salary by Gender in the US 2026
| Category | Men | Women | Women’s Share of Men’s Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ages 16–24, full-time | $805/week | $725/week | 90.1% |
| Ages 25 and over, full-time | $1,395/week | $1,143/week | 81.9% |
| Annualized, ages 25+ | $72,540 | $59,436 | 81.9% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Annual Averages 2025
The gender gap in the US Average Salary narrows considerably among younger workers and widens as careers progress. Among workers aged 16 to 24, women earn 90.1% of what men earn, a relatively tight gap that reflects similar entry-level roles and comparable early-career experience levels between the sexes. Once workers pass age 25, the gap opens further: women’s median weekly earnings of $1,143 amount to 81.9% of the $1,395 men report, a pattern that has held remarkably steady across the last several years of BLS reporting.
Several structural forces widen this gap over a career, including occupational concentration, time out of the workforce for caregiving, and negotiation patterns that tend to favor men. The gap also varies by race: Black women earn 86.8% of what Black men earn, while Hispanic women earn 79.0% of Hispanic men’s wages. None of these ratios have closed to parity, and the US Average Salary figures make clear sex remains one of the strongest predictors of pay outside of occupation and education.
Average Salary by State in the US 2026
| State | Average Weekly Wage | Annualized Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $2,363 | $122,876 |
| Connecticut | $2,080 | $108,160 |
| Washington | $1,998 | $103,896 |
| California | $1,986 | $103,272 |
| Colorado | $1,774 | $92,248 |
| Arkansas | $1,291 | $67,132 |
| Oklahoma | $1,235 | $64,220 |
| New Mexico | $1,235 | $64,220 |
| South Dakota | $1,211 | $62,972 |
| West Virginia | $1,188 | $61,776 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, March 2026
The US Average Salary by state shows a wide corridor of high pay running through the Northeast and West Coast, driven by concentrations of finance, technology, and professional services employers. New York leads all states at an average weekly wage of $2,363, well ahead of Connecticut, Washington, and California, each of which clears $1,900 a week thanks to dense clusters of high-paying industries in and around their major metro areas. Washington, D.C., which is a federal district rather than a state, posts an even higher average weekly wage than any state on this list, underscoring how concentrated high-paying government, legal, and lobbying work has become in the capital region.
At the other end, West Virginia, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Oklahoma report average weekly wages below $1,240, roughly half the top-paying states. These states lean more heavily toward agriculture, energy extraction, or lower-wage service work, and typically carry a lower cost of living than coastal states, softening the real-world impact of the nominal gap. Anyone comparing job offers across state lines should weigh these figures against cost of living and BLS-tracked unemployment trends, rather than the raw weekly wage alone.
Average Salary by Education Level in the US 2026
| Education Level | Median Weekly Earnings | Median Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Less than high school diploma | $770 | $40,040 |
| High school diploma, no college | $966 | $50,232 |
| Some college or associate degree | $1,097 | $57,044 |
| Bachelor’s degree only | $1,578 | $82,056 |
| Master’s degree | $1,876 | $97,552 |
| Professional degree | $2,294 | $119,288 |
| Doctoral degree | $2,307 | $119,964 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Annual Averages 2025
Education remains the single clearest lever on the US Average Salary. Workers with less than a high school diploma report a median of just $40,040 a year, while a high school diploma alone lifts that figure to $50,232, a jump of roughly 25% for finishing secondary school. The bigger leap comes at the bachelor’s degree level: workers with a four-year degree report a median annual salary of $82,056, more than double what workers without a high school diploma earn and roughly 80% higher than the median for high school graduates with no further schooling.
Advanced degrees compound the effect further. Workers holding a professional degree, the credential typically required for law, medicine, and similar licensed fields, report a median of $119,288 a year, essentially matching workers with a doctoral degree at $119,964. Even a master’s degree alone lifts median pay to $97,552, roughly 19% above a bachelor’s-only worker. These gaps have held consistently across BLS reporting periods, reinforcing that additional years of schooling continue to translate directly into higher US Average Salary outcomes even as tuition costs and student debt burdens draw increasing public scrutiny.
Average Salary by Race and Ethnicity in the US 2026
| Group | Median Weekly Earnings | Median Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Asian | $1,713 | $89,076 |
| White | $1,268 | $65,936 |
| Black | $1,029 | $53,508 |
| Hispanic or Latino | $997 | $51,844 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, Q2 2026
Racial and ethnic gaps in the US Average Salary remain substantial in 2026. Asian workers report the highest median weekly earnings of any group at $1,713, roughly 35% above the White worker median of $1,268. Black workers report a median of $1,029 weekly, about 81% of the White median, while Hispanic and Latino workers report the lowest median at $997, or roughly 79% of the White figure. These gaps persist even after accounting for full-time status, meaning they reflect differences in occupation mix, industry concentration, regional distribution, and other structural factors rather than simply hours worked.
The gaps also compound with sex. Black men earn $1,089 weekly, or 77.8% of the $1,400 reported by White men, while Hispanic men earn $1,080, about 77.1% of the White male figure. Asian men and women both out-earn their White counterparts, at $1,902 and $1,489 weekly respectively. Anyone building a retirement plan around these differences may find it useful to compare how the gap compounds over time via average 401(k) balances by age, since early-career pay gaps widen into larger savings gaps by retirement.
Average Salary by Industry in the US 2026
| Sector | Average Weekly Wage |
|---|---|
| Information | $2,066 |
| National average, all sectors | $1,290 |
| Leisure and hospitality | $600 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, July 2026
Industry choice moves the US Average Salary more than almost any other single factor besides education. Workers in the Information sector, which covers software publishing, telecommunications, data processing, and media, reported an average weekly wage of $2,066 in July 2026, more than triple the average reported in leisure and hospitality, which trails every other major sector at just $600 a week. That gap of more than $1,400 weekly, or roughly $73,000 annually, illustrates why career switchers frequently target technology and finance-adjacent roles even when it requires additional training or relocation.
The overall national average weekly wage across all sectors sat at $1,290 in July 2026, essentially flat compared to the prior year despite the broader wage growth seen in median full-time earnings. This divergence suggests that gains are concentrated in specific high-paying occupations rather than spread evenly across the labor market. Workers evaluating a career change should weigh not just current pay in a target sector but also job security, since information and finance carry different volatility profiles than steadier fields like healthcare or government.
Median vs Average Salary in the US 2026
| Measure | Definition | 2026 Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Median weekly earnings (full-time) | Midpoint value, half above and half below | $1,251/week |
| Median annual salary (full-time) | Median weekly earnings annualized | $65,052 |
| Mean (average) annual wage, all occupations | Total wages divided by number of workers | $69,770 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
The distinction between “average” and “median” matters enormously when discussing the US Average Salary, and the two figures diverge by nearly $5,000 a year in 2026. The median, $65,052, represents the exact midpoint of full-time earnings: half of all full-time workers earn more, and half earn less. The mean, or arithmetic average, sits higher at $69,770 because a relatively small number of extremely high earners, executives, surgeons, senior engineers, and finance professionals, pull the overall average upward even though they represent a small share of the workforce.
This gap explains why headline “average salary” figures often feel disconnected from what most people actually take home. A worker earning $65,000 a year is squarely typical by the median measure, yet still sits below the mean simply because of how skewed the income distribution is at the top. Journalists, employers, and policymakers who want an accurate read on what a typical American worker earns should lean on the median, while the mean remains useful mainly for understanding total wage sums or comparing very broad economic aggregates like GDP contribution.
Wage Growth and Inflation Trends in the US 2026
| Indicator | 2026 Value | Comparison Period |
|---|---|---|
| Median weekly earnings growth (YoY) | 4.6% | Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025 |
| CPI-U inflation (YoY, same period) | 3.9% | Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025 |
| Real wage growth | Approx. 0.7 percentage points | Q2 2026 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Nominal wage growth outpaced inflation in the second quarter of 2026, a meaningful shift after several years in which price increases regularly ate into paycheck gains. Median weekly earnings for full-time workers rose 4.6% year-over-year, while the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers climbed 3.9% over the same twelve months, leaving full-time workers with a modest but real increase in purchasing power of roughly 0.7 percentage points. This marks a continuation of a pattern that took hold through 2025, when wage gains consistently ran ahead of, or close to, inflation after the sharper cost-of-living spikes seen earlier in the decade.
Workers planning household budgets around these gains should note that nominal pay increases do not always translate into a proportionally larger refund, since tax brackets shift too; reviewing current IRS tax refund trends alongside wage data offers a fuller picture of household cash flow. Real wage growth of this size, while positive, remains modest against housing and healthcare costs that have risen faster than the broader CPI basket in many metro areas, meaning the US Average Salary gain reported nationally does not translate evenly into affordability across every region.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the US average salary in 2026?
The median annual salary for full-time workers in the United States is $65,052 in 2026, based on BLS median weekly earnings of $1,251 in the second quarter. The mean, or average, annual wage across all occupations is higher at $69,770, according to BLS OEWS data from May 2025.
What is a good salary in the US in 2026?
Any salary above the national median of $65,052 places a full-time worker in the upper half of US earners. A salary of $100,000 or more generally places an individual worker in roughly the top quarter of full-time earners nationally, though what counts as “good” varies enormously by state and cost of living.
What is the average salary by age in the US?
Median annual pay rises from $32,344 for workers aged 16–19 to a peak of $72,020 for workers aged 35–44, then eases gradually to $62,036 for workers 65 and older, according to BLS Current Population Survey data.
Which state has the highest average salary in the US?
New York reports the highest average weekly wage among US states at $2,363, according to BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data from March 2026, followed by Connecticut, Washington, and California.
Which state has the lowest average salary in the US?
West Virginia reports the lowest average weekly wage among US states at $1,188, according to the same March 2026 BLS QCEW dataset, with South Dakota, New Mexico, and Oklahoma close behind.
How much more do college graduates earn than high school graduates?
Workers with a bachelor’s degree report median annual earnings of $82,056, roughly 80% higher than the $50,232 median reported by workers with only a high school diploma, based on 2025 BLS annual averages.
What is the gender pay gap in the US in 2026?
Women working full-time earn a median of 81.9% of what men earn, based on weekly earnings of $1,143 for women versus $1,395 for men among workers 25 and older, per BLS annual data for 2025.
Is the US average salary rising faster than inflation?
Yes. Median weekly earnings grew 4.6% year-over-year through the second quarter of 2026, compared with a 3.9% rise in the Consumer Price Index over the same period, producing modest real wage growth.
What industry pays the highest average salary in the US?
The Information sector pays the highest average weekly wage at $2,066, more than triple the $600 weekly average reported in leisure and hospitality, according to BLS Current Employment Statistics for July 2026.
How many full-time workers are counted in US salary statistics?
The BLS Current Population Survey counted 120.9 million full-time wage and salary workers nationwide as of the second quarter of 2026, the base population used to calculate median and average earnings figures.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
