Mean vs. Median Salary
Two “averages”, two different answers. Here is which one to use.
When people ask for the “average salary”, they usually mean one of two statistics:
- Mean — add up every worker’s wage and divide by the number of workers. In the U.S. this is $69,770 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
- Median — line everyone up from lowest to highest pay and take the person in the middle. In the U.S. this is $50,980.
The mean is $18,790 (37%) higher because wages are skewed: a relatively small number of very high earners raise the total far more than low earners can lower it. The median ignores how high the top earners go, so it describes the typical worker better.
Which one should you use?
- “What does a typical worker earn?” — use the median.
- “Is my pay normal for my job or state?” — compare with the median and the percentiles.
- Total payroll or economy-wide comparisons — the mean is appropriate, because it is tied to total wages paid.
- Household budgets — neither; use household income.
And what about the mode?
The mode — the most common wage — is not published by BLS. Wage percentiles are more useful: they show where the bottom 10%, middle and top 10% of workers sit.
The mean–median gap in every state
| State | Mean wage | Median wage | Mean ÷ median |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $80,690 | $58,240 | 1.39 |
| New York | $82,460 | $59,670 | 1.38 |
| Illinois | $71,130 | $51,960 | 1.37 |
| Georgia | $65,920 | $48,170 | 1.37 |
| Texas | $65,750 | $48,620 | 1.35 |
| Arizona | $67,620 | $50,060 | 1.35 |
| Florida | $64,670 | $47,880 | 1.35 |
| Massachusetts | $85,610 | $63,590 | 1.35 |
| North Carolina | $64,290 | $47,970 | 1.34 |
| Delaware | $69,880 | $52,190 | 1.34 |
| New Jersey | $78,040 | $58,570 | 1.33 |
| Virginia | $74,040 | $55,690 | 1.33 |
| Washington | $83,330 | $62,990 | 1.32 |
| Utah | $66,290 | $50,110 | 1.32 |
| Pennsylvania | $65,730 | $49,690 | 1.32 |
| New Mexico | $62,330 | $47,210 | 1.32 |
| Michigan | $64,920 | $49,270 | 1.32 |
| Ohio | $64,390 | $49,380 | 1.30 |
| Maryland | $77,580 | $59,510 | 1.30 |
| Nevada | $62,050 | $47,660 | 1.30 |
| Missouri | $62,160 | $47,800 | 1.30 |
| Connecticut | $77,420 | $59,690 | 1.30 |
| Colorado | $77,190 | $59,800 | 1.29 |
| Tennessee | $60,800 | $47,380 | 1.28 |
| Maine | $65,780 | $51,430 | 1.28 |
| Wisconsin | $64,270 | $50,270 | 1.28 |
| New Hampshire | $71,360 | $55,880 | 1.28 |
| Idaho | $61,170 | $47,970 | 1.28 |
| South Carolina | $59,280 | $46,490 | 1.28 |
| Nebraska | $62,400 | $48,980 | 1.27 |
| Oregon | $72,460 | $57,000 | 1.27 |
| Indiana | $60,840 | $47,860 | 1.27 |
| Mississippi | $50,810 | $40,120 | 1.27 |
| Rhode Island | $71,900 | $56,780 | 1.27 |
| Kansas | $60,640 | $48,010 | 1.26 |
| Alabama | $57,500 | $45,670 | 1.26 |
| Arkansas | $54,890 | $43,630 | 1.26 |
| Kentucky | $58,990 | $46,920 | 1.26 |
| Minnesota | $71,160 | $56,920 | 1.25 |
| Montana | $60,880 | $48,740 | 1.25 |
| Oklahoma | $56,950 | $45,600 | 1.25 |
| Hawaii | $70,270 | $56,320 | 1.25 |
| West Virginia | $56,470 | $45,300 | 1.25 |
| Louisiana | $56,600 | $45,520 | 1.24 |
| Iowa | $59,830 | $48,540 | 1.23 |
| Alaska | $74,720 | $61,000 | 1.22 |
| Wyoming | $61,560 | $50,270 | 1.22 |
| Vermont | $69,050 | $56,390 | 1.22 |
| South Dakota | $57,610 | $47,080 | 1.22 |
| North Dakota | $64,050 | $52,480 | 1.22 |
| District of Columbia | $111,010 | $91,540 | 1.21 |
The gap is largest in California, New York and Illinois — states with concentrations of very high-paying jobs — and smallest in District of Columbia and North Dakota.