Average, Median, Top 1%, and all United States Salary Percentiles

Written by:
PK

Below are estimated United States salary brackets for 2023. See estimates for the average, median, and top 1% wage or salary in the United States.

(Salaries are earned between January and December 2022.)

Salary Benchmarks in 2023

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.

Salary percentiles and average in the Unioted States in 2023
Salary percentiles in 2023 for all workers, and workers who work 30+ or 40+ hours weekly

What is the median salary?

The median salary in the United States in 2023 was $52,000.

What is the average salary?

In 2023, the average salary in the United States was $72,296.06.

What is the top 1% salary?

$390,000 was the threshold to earn a top 1% salary in 2023.

Salary Percentiles for the United States in 2023

Summaries are nice – but a complete view is better. Below is a chart summarizing every salary percentile in 2023. 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.

PercentileAny Hours30+ Hours Weekly40+ Hours Weekly
1%$5,000$10,000$10,000
2%$8,000$12,500$15,000
3%$10,000$15,000$17,593
4%$12,000$17,040$20,000
5%$13,000$20,000$20,000
6%$15,000$20,000$22,005
7%$16,000$21,000$24,000
8%$17,500$23,000$25,000
9%$19,000$24,000$25,000
10%$20,000$25,000$27,000
11%$20,000$25,000$28,080
12%$21,750$26,000$30,000
13%$23,000$28,000$30,000
14%$24,000$29,000$30,000
15%$25,000$30,000$30,067
16%$25,000$30,000$32,000
17%$26,000$30,000$33,000
18%$27,000$31,000$34,000
19%$28,300$32,000$35,000
20%$30,000$33,000$35,000
21%$30,000$34,000$36,000
22%$30,000$35,000$37,000
23%$30,000$35,000$38,000
24%$31,680$36,000$38,800
25%$32,000$36,400$40,000
26%$34,000$38,000$40,000
27%$35,000$38,500$40,000
28%$35,000$40,000$40,000
29%$35,000$40,000$41,600
30%$36,000$40,000$42,000
31%$37,440$40,000$44,000
32%$38,000$41,600$45,000
33%$40,000$42,000$45,000
34%$40,000$44,000$45,504
35%$40,000$45,000$47,000
36%$40,000$45,000$48,000
37%$41,600$45,600$49,000
38%$42,500$47,000$50,000
39%$44,600$48,000$50,000
40%$45,000$49,000$50,000
41%$45,000$50,000$50,000
42%$46,000$50,000$52,000
43%$47,750$50,000$52,000
44%$48,001$50,000$54,000
45%$50,000$52,000$55,000
46%$50,000$52,400$55,000
47%$50,000$54,000$56,000
48%$50,000$55,000$57,000
49%$52,000$55,000$59,000
50%$52,000$56,000$60,000
51%$54,000$58,000$60,000
52%$55,000$60,000$60,000
53%$55,000$60,000$60,000
54%$56,010$60,000$62,000
55%$58,000$60,000$63,500
56%$60,000$61,000$65,000
57%$60,000$63,000$65,000
58%$60,000$65,000$67,000
59%$60,000$65,000$69,000
60%$62,000$66,600$70,000
61%$64,000$68,000$70,000
62%$65,000$70,000$71,559
63%$66,000$70,000$73,000
64%$68,000$71,000$75,000
65%$70,000$73,000$75,000
66%$70,000$75,000$77,000
67%$71,000$75,000$80,000
68%$73,000$77,000$80,000
69%$75,000$80,000$80,000
70%$75,000$80,000$83,000
71%$78,000$80,000$85,000
72%$80,000$84,000$86,311
73%$80,000$85,000$90,000
74%$82,000$88,000$90,000
75%$85,000$90,000$93,000
76%$87,000$90,002$95,000
77%$90,000$95,000$98,000
78%$90,002$96,410$100,000
79%$95,000$100,000$100,000
80%$97,000$100,000$100,000
81%$100,000$100,000$105,000
82%$100,000$104,000$110,000
83%$100,000$109,000$111,000
84%$105,000$110,000$117,000
85%$110,000$116,000$120,000
86%$115,000$120,000$122,500
87%$120,000$123,000$126,000
88%$121,000$128,000$130,000
89%$127,000$130,000$140,000
90%$132,000$140,000$145,000
91%$140,000$150,000$150,000
92%$150,000$150,000$154,800
93%$150,000$160,000$165,000
94%$162,000$170,000$180,000
95%$180,000$190,000$200,000
96%$200,000$200,000$210,000
97%$221,000$230,000$240,000
98%$268,000$280,000$300,000
99%$390,000$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 2023 United States Salary Brackets

Data comes from the United States Census Bureau's Annual ASEC survey, released in September 2023. 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 57,139 responses, representing 126,936,619 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:

Is this salary gross or net? Does this data include taxes?

The salary data in this post is before tax or gross salary.

      

PK

PK started DQYDJ in 2009 to research and discuss finance and investing and help answer financial questions. He's expanded DQYDJ to build visualizations, calculators, and interactive tools.

PK lives in New Hampshire with his wife, kids, and dog.

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