Quick answer: there is no single official "average Salary in the US" in the US, and any guide that gives you one number is hiding a choice. The best benchmark for a typical full-time worker is the BLS median of $1,251 a week in Q2 2026 — about $65,052 a year annualised. The true mean across all jobs, including part-time work, was $69,770 a year in May 2025 (BLS OEWS), while the median across all jobs was only $50,980. This Average Salary in the US guide keeps every measure separate, labelled with its survey, population and date, so you can see which figure actually fits your case.
Average Salary in the US 2026–27 Guide — Median, Mean and Typical Pay, by Source
Average salary in the US in 2026–27 is three different numbers, not one. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) measures full-time workers in one survey and all jobs in another, and the mean and the median answer different questions: the mean is pulled up by a small number of very high earners, while the median is the middle worker. All figures in this average Salary in the US guide are gross, before tax, unless a figure is explicitly labelled net.
No 2027-specific average Salary in the US figure exists in any source used here — "2026–27" in the title is framing, and the hard figures are 2026 and May 2025 data; 2027 pay is an outlook, not a published scale. Both BLS measures below exclude self-employed workers, so neither covers gig or self-employed income.
The Three Headline Measures — Never Blend Them — Average Salary in the US
| Measure — Average Salary in the US | Figure | What it actually measures |
|---|---|---|
| Median full-time weekly earnings (BLS CPS, Q2 2026) | $1,251/week; $65,052/year annualised | Typical full-time wage and salary worker (35+ hours, main job); self-employed excluded |
| Mean annual wage, all occupations (BLS OEWS, May 2025) | $69,770/year ($33.54/hour) | True "average" across ~155.5 million jobs, including part-time; pulled up by high earners |
| Median annual wage, all occupations (BLS OEWS, May 2025) | $50,980/year ($24.51/hour) | Middle job across all occupations, including part-time — lower than the full-time median for that reason |
The Q2 2026 median is the primary headline: it covers 120.9 million full-time workers, rose 4.6% year on year against CPI-U inflation of 3.9% over the same period — a small real gain — and its annualised figure of $65,052 is $1,251 × 52 arithmetic only, not a BLS-published annual salary. Do not mix it with the seasonally adjusted series, which gave $1,258 in Q2 2026, up from $1,233 in Q1 2026. The OEWS mean of $69,770 must never be written as "the average Salary in the US" without saying it covers all jobs including part-time, and $65,000 must never be written without saying it is the median full-time figure annualised from weekly pay.
Median Full-Time Pay by Sex, Race and Age (BLS, Q2 2026) — Average Salary in the US
| Group (full-time, Q2 2026) — Average Salary in the US | Median weekly | Annualised |
|---|---|---|
| All full-time workers | $1,251 | $65,052 |
| Men | $1,380 | $71,760 |
| Women | $1,131 | $58,812 |
| Asian workers | $1,713 | — |
| White workers | $1,268 | — |
| Black workers | $1,029 | — |
| Hispanic workers | $997 | — |
Women earned 82.0% of the men's median in Q2 2026. The ratio varies by race and ethnicity: White 81.6%, Black 91.0%, Asian 78.3%, Hispanic 83.5%. Within groups, Black men earned $1,089 (77.8% of White men at $1,400) and Hispanic men $1,080 (77.1%); Black women earned $991 (86.8% of White women at $1,142) and Hispanic women $902 (79.0%); Asian men earned $1,902 and Asian women $1,489, both above their White counterparts.
By age, pay peaks at 35–54 — men $1,596 a week at 35–44 and $1,571 at 45–54, women $1,249 and $1,231 — and is lowest at 16–24 (men $839, women $764), where the sex gap is narrowest (91.1%) against 78.5% at 55+. By broad occupation, management, professional and related roles pay most (men $1,928, women $1,476 a week) and service occupations least (men $920, women $730).
Mean vs Median by Occupation (BLS OEWS, May 2025) — Average Salary in the US
Eight of the 10 largest occupations sit below the $69,770 all-occupation mean — a reminder that the mean describes the job market, not the typical worker. The largest occupation overall is home health and personal care aides (4.3 million jobs), followed by retail salespersons and fast food and counter workers (3.9 million each).
| Largest occupation (OEWS, May 2025) — Average Salary in the US | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|
| General and operations managers | $134,940 |
| Registered nurses | $101,420 |
| Customer service representatives | $46,590 |
| Office clerks, general | $46,420 |
| Labourers / freight, stock and material movers | $42,260 |
| Stockers and order fillers | $39,540 |
| Retail salespersons | $37,310 |
| Home health and personal care aides | $36,120 |
| Cashiers | $33,180 |
| Fast food and counter workers | $32,150 |
By major group (mean annual, May 2025): management occupations $145,260, healthcare practitioners and technical $108,700, educational instruction and library $67,540, construction and extraction $65,360. The lowest broad groups are food preparation and serving related ($37,150), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($40,880) and personal care and service ($41,070); the lowest large detailed occupations are fast food and counter workers ($32,150), hosts and hostesses ($32,690), amusement and recreation attendants ($32,640), dishwashers ($34,310) and other food preparation and serving workers ($33,960).
Highest-Paying Occupations (BLS OEWS, May 2025) — Average Salary in the US
BLS suppresses exact medians at or above $239,200 for the highest-paid roles, so this ranking is by mean annual wage, and it uses the May 2025 release — not the widely copied May 2024 set (pediatric surgeons $450,810, cardiologists $432,490), which is superseded and must not be mixed into this table.
| Occupation (OEWS, May 2025) — Average Salary in the US | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|
| Pediatric surgeons (highest overall) | $502,050 |
| Cardiologists | $454,940 |
| Nurse anaesthetists (highest non-physician / surgeon / dentist role) | $248,320 |
| Chief executives | $269,630 |
| Advertising, marketing, promotions, PR and sales managers | $167,930 |
| Marketing and sales managers | $169,490 |
| Postsecondary health specialties teachers | $147,570 |
| Postsecondary law teachers | $144,770 |
| Elevator and escalator installers and repairers | $109,820 |
Radiologists are deliberately omitted from this table: the May 2025 release highlights name only the top two overall plus nurse anaesthetists, and aggregator tables give conflicting radiologist figures by vintage. Registered nurses overall averaged $101,420, but by state the mean runs from about $77,000 (Alabama and South Dakota) to $150,280 (California) — nearly double for the same job title. Elementary school teachers averaged $72,650 (highest states Washington $97,970 and California $95,670; lowest Mississippi $52,300 and Oklahoma $52,320), against teaching assistants at $38,290. The lowest healthcare roles were dietetic technicians ($40,630) and psychiatric technicians ($46,610).
States: Top and Bottom (Secondary — Read the Label) — Average Salary in the US
No BLS state mean-wage table was opened directly for this average Salary in the US guide. The figures below come from salario.io's ranking, which cites BLS OEWS May 2024 data (published 2025), mean annual wage across all occupations. Present them as that ranking — not as a BLS table this average Salary in the US guide verified itself — and do not fill in the missing states: the retrieved excerpt's top-10 list was cut off, so only Massachusetts at the top and the bottom eight are quoted here.
| State (salario.io ranking of OEWS May 2024 means) — Average Salary in the US | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts (rank 1 among states) | $83,490 |
| Louisiana | $55,420 |
| Kentucky | $54,540 |
| Alabama | $54,270 |
| Idaho | $54,020 |
| Oklahoma | $53,720 |
| West Virginia | $52,800 |
| Arkansas | $51,950 |
| Mississippi (lowest) | $49,380 |
Do not use a single-occupation state table as a general state ranking — for example, a software-developer state table (California $170,910 and similar) describes one occupation only, not state pay overall.
Pay by Education (BLS CPS, Q2 2026) — Average Salary in the US
Full-time workers age 25+, median weekly earnings, Q2 2026: less than a high school diploma $803 a week; high school graduates with no college $994; bachelor's degree or higher $1,768. In plain terms, the bachelor's-or-higher median is about 2.2 times the no-diploma median and about 1.8 times the high-school-only median. These are medians, not causal returns to a degree — occupation, age and hours differ between the groups. At the top end, the top 10% of men with advanced degrees earned $5,363 or more a week, and the top 10% of women $3,676 or more.
What the Median Worker Takes Home — Independent Estimate, Federal Only — Average Salary in the US
Worked example, stated in full and labelled as an independent 2026 estimate, not the Salary Converter Tool US calculator's output: single filer, 2026 tax year, standard deduction, no credits, no state tax, no retirement or health deductions, employee only. Federal brackets used (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, 2026, single): 10% to $12,400; 12% $12,400–$50,400; 22% $50,400–$105,700; 24% $105,700–$201,775; 32% $201,775–$256,225; 35% $256,225–$640,600; 37% above. Standard deduction single: $16,100. FICA 2026: Social Security 6.2% on wages up to the $184,500 wage base; Medicare 1.45% on all wages; the additional 0.9% Medicare above $200,000 is not triggered here. State tax is not modelled — rates and rules vary by state and no state is assumed.
| Example (independent estimate, federal only) — Average Salary in the US | Gross / year | Federal income tax | FICA | Net / year | Net / month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median full-time worker ($1,251 × 52) | $65,052 | $5,626.24 | $4,976.47 | $54,449.28 | $4,537.44 |
| $70,000 round-number cross-check | $70,000 | $6,570.00 | $5,355.00 | $58,075.00 | $4,839.58 |
For the median worker: taxable income $65,052 − $16,100 = $48,952; federal tax 10% × $12,400 ($1,240.00) plus 12% × $36,552 ($4,386.24) = $5,626.24; FICA Social Security 6.2% × $65,052 ($4,033.22) plus Medicare 1.45% × $65,052 ($943.25) = $4,976.47; total federal deductions $10,602.72 (16.30% effective). For $70,000: taxable $53,900; tax $1,240.00 + 12% × $38,000 ($4,560.00) + 22% × $3,500 ($770.00) = $6,570.00; FICA $4,340.00 + $1,015.00 = $5,355.00; total $11,925.00 (17.04% effective).
The site's own US calculator figure must be checked live at publish time and any difference reported — do not silently replace this split with the calculator's split or vice versa. Note the vintage trap on FICA: one source states the 2026 Social Security wage base as $176,100 — that is the 2025 figure, stale. This Average Salary in the US guide uses $184,500, agreed by four sources.
Outlook: Growth Cooled Through Mid-2026, No 2027 Figure Exists — Average Salary in the US
Observed, not forecast: the Employment Cost Index for the year ended June 2026 (BLS, released 31 July 2026) showed total compensation up 3.4% (civilian) and wages and salaries up 3.2% (civilian) and 3.1% (private industry), with benefits up 3.8% and the quarter up 0.9% from March to June 2026. Private-industry wage growth cooled from about 3.5–3.6% through 2025 to 3.4% in March 2026 and 3.1% in June 2026, while the median full-time worker still gained in real terms in Q2 2026 (+4.6% against CPI-U +3.9%). State and local government compensation rose 3.6% over the year, wages 3.4% (not seasonally adjusted).
No credible published forecast of the 2027 average US salary was found: the average Salary in the US guide's outlook must say wage growth cooled through mid-2026 after running near 3.5% in 2025, and that any 2027 figure would be a projection. BLS Occupational Projections 2025–35 exist as a program, but no 2027 average-pay projection was retrieved and none is quoted here. Q3 2026 weekly earnings figures circulating via syndication are not used in this average Salary in the US guide — the BLS Q3 release was not opened.
Related Salary Calculators and Guides
Frequently Asked Questions — Average Salary in the US
Sources — Average Salary in the US
Median full-time pay: BLS Usual Weekly Earnings, Q2 2026 (USDL-26-1257), with the Q2 2026 summary at BLS TED. Mean and median across all jobs and occupation figures: BLS OEWS May 2025 release (USDL-26-0725) and BLS largest occupations, May 2025. Wage growth: BLS ECI latest numbers, BLS ECI news releases and BLS TED on ECI, June 2026. Tax: H&R Block — FICA 2026 ($184,500 wage base) and Ameriprise — 2026 brackets and standard deduction (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). State ranking (secondary only): salario.io — average salary by state (citing OEWS May 2024). No 2027-specific average Salary in the US figure exists in these sources; 2027 is outlook only. Figures are planning estimates, not salary guarantees.
Disclaimer: All figures on this page are survey benchmarks for planning only. Actual pay depends on employer, state, experience, occupation, hours and benefits. This Average Salary in the US guide is not a salary guarantee and does not replace the source surveys or a qualified adviser.