Average salary by occupation in the United States
Every May the Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys employers and publishes wages for more than 823 detailed occupations. This page starts with the 22 major groups.
Median annual wage, all occupations
US$50,980
May 2025
Mean annual wage, all occupations
US$69,770
May 2025
Como ler este número
How to read this figure
De onde vem o dado
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 national estimates
Cuidado
What this number does not tell you
O que fazer com isso
What to do with this figure
Median and mean wage by major occupational group
The 22 groups below cover the whole workforce the survey reaches. Each group contains dozens of detailed occupations, and the spread inside a group is usually much wider than the gap between groups.
Annual wages by major occupational group, May 2025
| Occupational group | Employment | Median annual wage | Mean annual wage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management Occupations | 11,132,700 | US$126,520 | US$145,260 |
| Computer and Mathematical Occupations | 5,260,110 | US$109,280 | US$120,080 |
| Legal Occupations | 1,305,620 | US$102,500 | US$139,510 |
| Architecture and Engineering Occupations | 2,617,130 | US$99,520 | US$106,830 |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 9,823,860 | US$86,530 | US$108,700 |
| Business and Financial Operations Occupations | 10,537,240 | US$82,660 | US$95,230 |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations | 1,473,260 | US$82,530 | US$94,600 |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations | 2,046,290 | US$62,750 | US$79,790 |
| Educational Instruction and Library Occupations | 9,100,570 | US$60,570 | US$67,540 |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations | 6,086,190 | US$59,620 | US$63,320 |
| Construction and Extraction Occupations | 6,425,160 | US$59,540 | US$65,360 |
| Community and Social Service Occupations | 2,668,680 | US$58,300 | US$63,410 |
| Protective Service Occupations | 3,776,610 | US$50,080 | US$60,720 |
| Office and Administrative Support Occupations | 17,753,430 | US$47,450 | US$51,560 |
| Production Occupations | 8,565,760 | US$46,990 | US$51,600 |
| Transportation and Material Moving Occupations | 13,677,150 | US$44,350 | US$49,850 |
| Sales and Related Occupations | 13,424,300 | US$38,530 | US$54,960 |
| Healthcare Support Occupations | 7,901,670 | US$38,340 | US$40,800 |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations | 4,548,260 | US$37,680 | US$40,880 |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations | 435,200 | US$36,630 | US$41,510 |
| Personal Care and Service Occupations | 3,255,790 | US$36,410 | US$41,070 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations | 13,680,750 | US$35,050 | US$37,150 |
Mean or median?
For all occupations together the mean annual wage, US$69,770, is well above the median, US$50,980. That gap exists because a small number of very high salaries pulls the mean up. When you want to know what a typical worker earns, use the median.
The percentiles tell you more than either. For all occupations, a tenth of workers earned below US$31,200 and a tenth earned above US$128,560.
What the survey covers
OEWS covers wage and salary workers in all non-farm industries, including state and local government, but not the self-employed, unpaid family workers or household workers. Figures are national; the same occupation can pay very differently from one state or metropolitan area to another.
Office and Administrative Support Occupations or Healthcare Support Occupations: how far apart are they?
On this page, Office and Administrative Support Occupations tops the table at 17,753,430, while Healthcare Support Occupations is the lowest at 7,901,670 — 2.2 times more. A gap this size is worth a second look before treating the figures as interchangeable.
What does "May 2025" mean for average salary by occupation in the united states?
The figures for average salary by occupation in the united states come from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 national estimates, with a reference period of May 2025. Pay statistics like this one are not updated in real time: the underlying survey or register takes months to collect and process, so the number reflects pay around that date, not today. Downloaded file: oesm25nat.zip (national_M2025_dl.xlsx). Wages at or above $239,200 a year are published by BLS only as "equal to or greater than" that amount.
Glossário: os termos desta página
Median vs. mean
The median is the middle value when every salary is lined up from lowest to highest: half earn less, half earn more. The mean is the simple average. A handful of very high salaries pulls the mean up without moving the median, so the median is usually the better guide to what a typical person earns.
Percentile
A percentile splits the distribution into 100 equal parts. The 10th percentile is the value only a tenth of people earn below; the 90th percentile is what only a tenth earn above. Looking at several percentiles shows the full spread, not just one average.
Fonte: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) — Office for National Statistics.
Full-time equivalent
A way of converting part-time hours into the pay a full-time version of the same job would earn, so that a two-day-a-week role can be compared fairly with a five-day one. Figures that mix full-time and part-time workers without adjusting for this tend to understate typical full-time pay.
Coefficient of variation
A measure of how much an estimate could be off, expressed as a percentage of the estimate itself. Statistical agencies use it to flag figures based on too small a sample: a high coefficient of variation means the number should be read as a rough order of magnitude, not an exact figure.
Fonte: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) — Office for National Statistics.
Minimum wage
The lowest hourly or monthly pay an employer is legally allowed to offer. It is a floor, not a typical salary, and it says little on its own about what a specific occupation actually pays — some countries set it by law, others leave wage floors to sector agreements instead.
Reference period
The point in time, or the stretch of time, that a published figure actually describes. Pay surveys take months to collect and process, so the reference period is usually well before the date the figures are released, and always before the date you are reading them.
Occupational classification
A standard code that groups similar jobs so that pay statistics can be compared across employers and over time — the UK uses SOC, Canada uses NOC, the United States uses SOC as well, and the European Union uses ISCO. The same job title can sit in different codes depending on the classification used.
Fonte: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Pay statistics glossary — todos os 10 termos.
Licence: U.S. government work, public domain (17 U.S.C. § 105)
Reference period: May 2025
Data collected on: 7 October 2026
Downloaded file: oesm25nat.zip (national_M2025_dl.xlsx). Wages at or above $239,200 a year are published by BLS only as "equal to or greater than" that amount.
Figures are statistical averages for a whole group of employees. Your own pay depends on your employer, your experience, your hours and where you work.