Below are estimated United States salary brackets for 2024. See estimates for the average, median, and top 1% wage or salary in the United States.
(Salaries are earned between January and December 2023.)
Salary Benchmarks in 2024
The most popular salary statistics to compare are:
- Median salary
- Average salary
- Top 1% salary
The median salary is the most important – even though it is the smallest of the three. Half of all workers make more, and half make less than the median.
What is the median salary?
The median salary in the United States in 2024 was $55,000.
What is the average salary?
In 2024, the average salary in the United States was $73,976.56.
What is the top 1% salary?
$380,000 was the threshold to earn a top 1% salary in 2024.
Salary Percentiles for the United States in 2024
Summaries are nice – but a complete view is better. Below is a chart summarizing every salary percentile in 2024. The first column is for all workers, while the second and third limit the population to only those who work 30+ or 40+ hours in a normal week.
| Percentile | Any Hours | 30+ Hours | 40+ Hours |
| 1% | $5,000 | $10,000 | $11,000 |
| 2% | $7,000 | $14,000 | $15,600 |
| 3% | $10,000 | $16,000 | $19,200 |
| 4% | $11,200 | $19,000 | $20,000 |
| 5% | $13,000 | $20,000 | $23,000 |
| 6% | $15,000 | $22,000 | $24,000 |
| 7% | $16,000 | $23,000 | $25,000 |
| 8% | $18,000 | $24,320 | $26,000 |
| 9% | $20,000 | $25,000 | $28,000 |
| 10% | $20,000 | $26,000 | $29,000 |
| 11% | $21,000 | $27,000 | $30,000 |
| 12% | $23,000 | $28,000 | $30,000 |
| 13% | $24,000 | $30,000 | $30,002 |
| 14% | $25,000 | $30,000 | $32,000 |
| 15% | $25,000 | $30,000 | $33,000 |
| 16% | $26,000 | $30,000 | $34,740 |
| 17% | $27,000 | $32,000 | $35,000 |
| 18% | $28,000 | $33,000 | $35,000 |
| 19% | $30,000 | $34,000 | $36,000 |
| 20% | $30,000 | $35,000 | $37,000 |
| 21% | $30,000 | $35,000 | $38,000 |
| 22% | $30,000 | $36,000 | $40,000 |
| 23% | $31,500 | $36,400 | $40,000 |
| 24% | $32,180 | $38,000 | $40,000 |
| 25% | $34,000 | $39,000 | $40,000 |
| 26% | $35,000 | $40,000 | $41,067 |
| 27% | $35,000 | $40,000 | $42,000 |
| 28% | $35,500 | $40,000 | $43,400 |
| 29% | $36,319 | $40,300 | $45,000 |
| 30% | $38,000 | $42,000 | $45,000 |
| 31% | $39,000 | $43,000 | $45,000 |
| 32% | $40,000 | $44,100 | $46,500 |
| 33% | $40,000 | $45,000 | $48,000 |
| 34% | $40,000 | $45,000 | $48,500 |
| 35% | $41,000 | $46,000 | $50,000 |
| 36% | $42,000 | $47,000 | $50,000 |
| 37% | $43,000 | $48,000 | $50,000 |
| 38% | $45,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| 39% | $45,000 | $50,000 | $50,603 |
| 40% | $45,600 | $50,000 | $52,000 |
| 41% | $47,000 | $50,000 | $53,000 |
| 42% | $48,000 | $50,002 | $55,000 |
| 43% | $49,823 | $52,000 | $55,000 |
| 44% | $50,000 | $53,000 | $55,000 |
| 45% | $50,000 | $55,000 | $57,000 |
| 46% | $50,000 | $55,000 | $58,188 |
| 47% | $51,000 | $55,000 | $60,000 |
| 48% | $52,000 | $57,000 | $60,000 |
| 49% | $54,000 | $59,000 | $60,000 |
| 50% | $55,000 | $60,000 | $60,000 |
| 51% | $55,000 | $60,000 | $62,000 |
| 52% | $56,000 | $60,000 | $63,000 |
| 53% | $58,000 | $60,000 | $65,000 |
| 54% | $60,000 | $62,000 | $65,000 |
| 55% | $60,000 | $64,000 | $66,000 |
| 56% | $60,000 | $65,000 | $68,000 |
| 57% | $60,000 | $65,000 | $70,000 |
| 58% | $62,000 | $67,000 | $70,000 |
| 59% | $65,000 | $70,000 | $70,000 |
| 60% | $65,000 | $70,000 | $72,000 |
| 61% | $66,000 | $70,000 | $75,000 |
| 62% | $68,000 | $72,000 | $75,000 |
| 63% | $70,000 | $74,000 | $75,000 |
| 64% | $70,000 | $75,000 | $78,000 |
| 65% | $71,000 | $75,000 | $80,000 |
| 66% | $73,000 | $78,000 | $80,000 |
| 67% | $75,000 | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| 68% | $75,000 | $80,000 | $83,000 |
| 69% | $78,000 | $80,000 | $85,000 |
| 70% | $80,000 | $83,500 | $86,000 |
| 71% | $80,000 | $85,000 | $90,000 |
| 72% | $82,000 | $87,000 | $90,000 |
| 73% | $85,000 | $90,000 | $92,000 |
| 74% | $85,000 | $90,000 | $95,000 |
| 75% | $89,000 | $92,876 | $98,000 |
| 76% | $90,000 | $95,000 | $100,000 |
| 77% | $92,000 | $99,000 | $100,000 |
| 78% | $95,000 | $100,000 | $100,000 |
| 79% | $99,900 | $100,000 | $104,000 |
| 80% | $100,000 | $102,000 | $108,000 |
| 81% | $100,000 | $106,000 | $110,000 |
| 82% | $104,000 | $110,000 | $115,000 |
| 83% | $108,000 | $112,000 | $120,000 |
| 84% | $110,000 | $118,000 | $120,000 |
| 85% | $115,000 | $120,000 | $125,000 |
| 86% | $120,000 | $124,000 | $130,000 |
| 87% | $122,000 | $130,000 | $132,000 |
| 88% | $128,000 | $133,000 | $140,000 |
| 89% | $132,000 | $140,000 | $145,000 |
| 90% | $140,000 | $147,500 | $150,000 |
| 91% | $150,000 | $150,000 | $150,000 |
| 92% | $150,000 | $155,000 | $160,000 |
| 93% | $160,000 | $165,000 | $170,000 |
| 94% | $170,000 | $176,000 | $180,000 |
| 95% | $180,000 | $192,000 | $200,000 |
| 96% | $200,000 | $200,000 | $210,000 |
| 97% | $224,000 | $232,000 | $250,000 |
| 98% | $275,000 | $286,000 | $300,000 |
| 99% | $380,000 | $400,000 | $400,000 |
Salary vs. Income
Salary is the amount of money someone is paid in wages at a job. However, it's only one element of income.
Many people earn money through other means – everything from rentals, investments, to interest, to farms and businesses. Adding up all of those categories leads to income, a better view of spending power than merely looking at a salary. Find our income posts here. (Including household income and individual income).
Methodology on 2024 United States Salary Brackets
Data comes from the United States Census Bureau's Annual ASEC survey, released in September 2024. Here are the criteria:
- AGE >= 16
- CLASSWKR >= 20 and CLASSWKR <= 28
- WKSWORK1 at least 40 weeks
- WORKLY is 2, or the person 'wants' a job
Additionally, the two other categories of full-time workers set the respective floor on hours worked. For all columns, you're only seeing INCWAGE – wage and salary income.
This screen leaves us with 56,320 responses, representing 133,038,755 people who earned a wage and worked 40 or more weeks in 2021.
Sarah Flood, Miriam King, Renae Rodgers, Steven Ruggles, J. Robert Warren, Daniel Backman, Annie Chen, Grace Cooper, Stephanie Richards, Megan Schouweiler, and Michael Westberry. IPUMS CPS: Version 11.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2023. https://doi.org/10.18128/D030.V11.0
Past results:
- 2023 Salary Percentiles and Averages
- 2022 Salary Percentiles and Averages
- 2021 Salary Percentiles and Averages
- 2020 Salary Percentiles and Averages
Is this salary gross or net? Does this data include taxes?
The salary data in this post is before tax or gross salary.
