Trends: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Weekly Earnings by Sex, Race, Ethnicity
In the second quarter 2026, median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers were $$1,251: $1,380 for men and $1,131 for women; $1,268 for White workers, $1,029 for Black or African American workers, $1,713 for Asian workers and $997 for workers of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. BLS Table 5 gives the deciles and quartiles for each group and for men and women within each.
Sex, race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, workers 16 years and over
| Upper limit of: | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Number of workers (in thousands) | First decile | First quartile | Second quartile (median) | Third quartile | Ninth decile |
| Total, 16 years and over | 120,945 | $642 | $850 | $1,251 | $1,915 | $2,924 |
| Men | 65,770 | 679 | 912 | 1,380 | 2,123 | 3,337 |
| Women | 55,175 | 614 | 785 | 1,131 | 1,729 | 2,594 |
| White | 87,525 | 654 | 866 | 1,268 | 1,919 | 2,921 |
| Men | 48,566 | 688 | 924 | 1,400 | 2,119 | 3,278 |
| Women | 38,959 | 618 | 793 | 1,142 | 1,733 | 2,587 |
| Black or African American | 16,019 | 589 | 754 | 1,029 | 1,516 | 2,323 |
| Men | 7,724 | 596 | 794 | 1,089 | 1,619 | 2,504 |
| Women | 8,295 | 583 | 726 | 991 | 1,427 | 2,013 |
| Asian | 10,384 | 716 | 1,019 | 1,713 | 2,704 | 3,923 |
| Men | 5,640 | 751 | 1,128 | 1,902 | 2,983 | 4,524 |
| Women | 4,745 | 669 | 960 | 1,489 | 2,302 | 3,264 |
| Hispanic or Latino ethnicity | 24,853 | 576 | 731 | 997 | 1,487 | 2,276 |
| Men | 14,246 | 602 | 781 | 1,080 | 1,596 | 2,486 |
| Women | 10,607 | 533 | 697 | 902 | 1,300 | 1,881 |
Reading this table
The rows are groups of full-time wage and salary workers aged 16 and over in the Current Population Survey; under each race group the men's and women's rows are indented. The columns after the count are points in each group's distribution of usual weekly earnings: the upper limits of the first decile, first quartile, median, third quartile and ninth decile, meaning 10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 90% of the group earn less than the figure shown. Quarterly averages, not seasonally adjusted, current dollars.
The race groups shown (White, Black or African American, Asian) do not sum to the total because other groups are not published separately, and people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be of any race, so that row overlaps the race rows; both points are in BLS's note under the table. The figures describe what the members of each group are paid; the groups also differ in occupation, industry, age, education, hours and region, and the table does not separate those factors. The Learn explainer on pay-gap statistics sets out what a ratio of two medians does and does not measure. Earnings by education come from the same table.
Source, release and next release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers (USDL-26-1257), released ; reference period second quarter 2026.
- Next release: (Third Quarter 2026), per the BLS release calendar.
- Table: Table 5. Quartiles and selected deciles of usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, 2nd quarter 2026 averages, not seasonally adjusted, fetched (SHA-256 3bfc4f549501…).
- Figures are shown as published; this site does not seasonally adjust, deflate, interpolate or extend any series.