Trends: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Weekly Earnings by Education

Among full-time wage and salary workers aged 25 and over in the second quarter 2026, median usual weekly earnings were $803 for those without a high school diploma, $994 for high school graduates with no college, $1,125 with some college or an associate degree, and $1,768 with a bachelor's degree or higher ($1,963 with an advanced degree). BLS Table 5 gives the first decile through the ninth decile for each group, and separately for men and women.

Educational attainment, workers 25 years and over

Upper limit of:
CharacteristicNumber of workers (in thousands)First decileFirst quartileSecond quartile (median)Third quartileNinth decile
Total, 25 years and over110,5606718931,3302,0043,082
Less than a high school diploma5,4034566318031,0761,458
High school graduates, no college (1)26,7056047449941,4391,959
Some college or associate degree26,1136388241,1251,6112,286
Bachelor's degree and higher (2)52,3388691,2121,7682,6973,922
Bachelor's degree only31,0768031,1181,6282,4063,676
Advanced degree21,2629881,3941,9632,9964,494
Men, 25 years and over59,7577089701,4592,2813,482
Less than a high school diploma3,5515106889001,1911,577
High school graduates, no college (1)16,4686488101,0981,5642,113
Some college or associate degree13,9747009421,2891,8752,514
Bachelor's degree and higher (2)25,7659611,3982,0133,0854,614
Bachelor's degree only15,8508921,2711,8772,7394,039
Advanced degree9,9141,1491,6112,4153,6905,363
Women, 25 years and over50,8036328171,1711,7682,689
Less than a high school diploma1,8523925246928591,072
High school graduates, no college (1)10,2375756828631,1741,579
Some college or associate degree12,1406027479801,3601,856
Bachelor's degree and higher (2)26,5748041,0791,5492,2933,316
Bachelor's degree only15,2257599931,4352,0682,939
Advanced degree11,3489211,2411,7352,5183,676
  • (1) Includes people with a high school diploma or equivalent.
  • (2) Includes people with bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees.

Reading this table

Each row is a group of full-time wage and salary workers aged 25 and over (the age at which most people have completed their schooling) from the Current Population Survey, and each column after the count is a point in that group's distribution of usual weekly earnings: the upper limit of the first decile (10% earn less), the first quartile (25% earn less), the median, the third quartile (75% earn less) and the ninth decile (90% earn less). Reading across a row shows how wide the spread is within a group; reading down a column compares groups at the same point in their distributions. The figures are quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, in current dollars.

High school graduates, no college includes people with an equivalency credential, and bachelor's degree and higher includes the two rows beneath it, as the footnotes state. The men's and women's blocks repeat the same categories. The differences between education groups are differences in what workers with each level of schooling are paid; they are not estimates of what additional schooling would earn any particular person, since the groups also differ in occupation, age, hours and region. Annual earnings by education, from the Census Bureau, are on a separate page, and the Learn explainer covers the measurement.

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