Average Salary by Age, Median, Top & Percentiles

In this post areUnited States Salary Brackets by Age for 2023. You'll also find average salary by age, plus median and top 1% salaries by age.

Salaries/wage incomes aregross(pre-tax),earned between January and December 2022 (the survey was conducted in early 2023).

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Salary Benchmarks by Age in 2023

Age is an excellent proxy for experience in most datasets – generally, the longer you've been at a job or career, the better you are in that job or career. While that's not auniversallaw, it's good practice to separate salary data by age. (Although you can find aggregate salary averages and stats here).

What is the median salary by age in the United States?

In full-year 2022 in the United States, these were the median salaries earned by age:

Age 25:$41,000.00
Age 35:$55,900.00
Age 45:$60,000.00
Age 55:$65,000.00
Age 65:$55,000.00

The following table lists the median salary for every age from 16-70 in the United States for 2023:

Age	Median Salary
16	$10,000.00
17	$9,000.00
18	$14,000.00
19	$22,000.00
20	$25,000.00
21	$25,000.00
22	$27,000.00
23	$32,000.00
24	$37,000.00
25	$41,000.00
26	$47,000.00
27	$46,800.00
28	$50,000.00
29	$50,000.00
30	$50,000.00
31	$54,000.00
32	$52,000.00
33	$55,000.00
34	$60,000.00
35	$55,900.00
36	$60,000.00
37	$60,000.00
38	$60,000.00
39	$61,000.00
40	$59,000.00
41	$60,000.00
42	$60,000.00
43	$60,000.00
44	$63,000.00
45	$60,000.00
46	$64,000.00
47	$63,000.00
48	$60,000.00
49	$62,864.00
50	$60,000.00
51	$64,000.00
52	$62,000.00
53	$65,000.00
54	$62,000.00
55	$65,000.00
56	$60,000.00
57	$61,000.00
58	$60,000.00
59	$55,000.00
60	$55,000.00
61	$60,000.00
62	$55,000.00
63	$57,200.00
64	$62,000.00
65	$55,000.00
66	$53,000.00
67	$50,000.00
68	$50,000.00
69	$55,000.00
70	$38,000.00

What is the average salary by age in the United States?

In full year 2022 in the United States, these were the average salaries earned by age:

Age 25:$51,358.29
Age 35:$75,771.95
Age 45:$83,492.78
Age 55:$82,291.66
Age 65:$72,797.99

In this next table, I've summarized the average salary for every age from 16-70 in the United States in 2023:

Age	Average Salary
16	$15,326.90
17	$12,402.94
18	$20,822.24
19	$25,662.69
20	$27,537.89
21	$28,095.45
22	$33,573.67
23	$38,278.59
24	$43,702.78
25	$51,358.29
26	$55,723.35
27	$59,446.48
28	$63,042.77
29	$61,845.50
30	$67,134.58
31	$71,060.19
32	$72,487.64
33	$70,483.34
34	$73,420.97
35	$75,771.95
36	$79,030.40
37	$82,723.84
38	$80,948.51
39	$76,101.30
40	$81,981.37
41	$79,778.46
42	$89,710.22
43	$79,797.44
44	$88,048.20
45	$83,492.78
46	$87,729.18
47	$81,872.90
48	$81,330.33
49	$84,966.71
50	$89,785.68
51	$88,337.34
52	$85,380.92
53	$83,690.31
54	$87,908.88
55	$82,291.66
56	$84,419.03
57	$83,662.01
58	$79,114.10
59	$77,266.03
60	$77,182.23
61	$77,211.25
62	$80,398.81
63	$81,937.18
64	$88,373.91
65	$72,797.99
66	$77,745.21
67	$63,480.34
68	$72,603.15
69	$74,505.92
70	$59,247.49

What is the top 1% salary by age in the United States?

Here are the summary top 1% salary benchmarks in the US in full year 2022, starting at 25 years old and moving up a decade at a time:

Age 25:$191,000
Age 35: $400,000
Age 45:$500,000
Age 55:$350,000
Age 65:$334,785

Remember to be appropriately skeptical with top 1% salaries. By definition, fewer people earn up here and the distribution isn't as well behaved.

Age	Top 1% Salary
16	$70,000.00
17	$60,000.00
18	$100,000.00
19	$100,000.00
20	$90,000.00
21	$75,000.00
22	$105,000.00
23	$150,000.00
24	$170,000.00
25	$191,000.00
26	$200,000.00
27	$235,000.00
28	$253,700.00
29	$215,000.00
30	$300,000.00
31	$350,000.00
32	$420,000.00
33	$317,000.00
34	$350,000.00
35	$400,000.00
36	$420,000.00
37	$450,000.00
38	$375,000.00
39	$350,000.00
40	$460,000.00
41	$350,000.00
42	$840,000.00
43	$350,000.00
44	$460,000.00
45	$500,000.00
46	$500,000.00
47	$450,000.00
48	$410,000.00
49	$350,000.00
50	$750,000.00
51	$400,000.00
52	$530,000.00
53	$375,000.00
54	$500,000.00
55	$350,000.00
56	$500,000.00
57	$500,000.00
58	$372,585.00
59	$357,000.00
60	$600,000.00
61	$400,000.00
62	$540,000.00
63	$500,000.00
64	$420,000.00
65	$334,785.00
66	$600,000.00
67	$400,000.00
68	$520,000.00
69	$400,000.00
70	$350,000.00

My warning in the income by age post applies here, too: to smooth over the spikes, look at a few adjacent ages to get a 'feel,' don't take one age as the correct value. (For what that's worth!)

Income vs. Salary

Salaryis what you earn from a job, yourwageincome.Incomeis a much more expansive set of ways to earn money. Here, think: business, investment, interest, rent, etc.

We specialize in income here on DQYDJ – find all our recentincome posts here. (Includinghousehold incomeandindividual income).

Salary by Age Summary for the United States in 2023

Want a bit more resolution? Check out the salary percentile by age calculator for the full picture.

You can also find past years here:

Methodology on 2023 United States Salary Brackets

This data comes from the United States Census Bureau's Annual ASEC survey fromSeptember 2023.

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

Here is an estimate of the number of workers in age group, along with the sample count:

Age	Samples	Count of Workers
16	132	256,247
17	292	578,975
18	425	856,931
19	476	1,107,092
20	610	1,609,597
21	677	1,814,723
22	757	2,090,027
23	896	2,594,835
24	945	2,830,429
25	1,065	2,884,790
26	1,077	2,927,605
27	1,124	3,007,614
28	1,179	3,036,665
29	1,264	3,243,738
30	1,292	3,296,714
31	1,390	3,319,514
32	1,386	3,314,684
33	1,415	3,358,656
34	1,378	3,194,486
35	1,425	3,208,120
36	1,422	3,115,692
37	1,425	3,151,560
38	1,467	2,982,396
39	1,371	2,915,999
40	1,519	3,123,576
41	1,405	2,963,898
42	1,409	2,969,046
43	1,376	2,883,393
44	1,355	2,836,279
45	1,313	2,648,920
46	1,270	2,687,311
47	1,284	2,754,233
48	1,221	2,752,213
49	1,149	2,522,210
50	1,182	2,566,221
51	1,228	2,818,073
52	1,261	2,865,301
53	1,213	2,744,922
54	1,041	2,430,360
55	973	2,356,147
56	1,077	2,566,280
57	1,039	2,482,325
58	1,008	2,434,425
59	984	2,475,565
60	945	2,306,180
61	798	1,953,618
62	784	1,927,034
63	701	1,622,696
64	655	1,619,529
65	571	1,315,634
66	445	1,048,591
67	347	793,257
68	304	718,313
69	242	602,917
70	233	518,159

What is your screen?

You can find the worker screen in the salary research post's methodology section.

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.

Average Salary by Age, Median, Top & Percentiles - DQYDJ (2024)