What is the average personal income

There has been an increase in real median household income of 6. Additionally, median income increased for all US regions:. Source : US Census Bureau. There is a big difference between the average and median wage data. The average numbers are higher because the distribution of workers by wage is highly skewed.

In , there were 34 million people below the poverty line in the US. The poverty rate in the US decreased from Since , the poverty rate in America has declined every year. It decreased from When you look at the percentage points, it might not seem that big, but take a look at real numbers: in , America had 4.

As you can see, this is the main reason why fast food and restaurant workers are always at the center of higher living wage debates. Source: Go Banking Rates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in the medical field have the highest hourly wage rates. The hourly wage is higher for some specialties and lower for others. Source: Prospective Doctor. Anesthesiologists play a crucial role during surgical procedures and their medical training takes 12 to 13 years.

Source: SeniorLiving. Source: Highland Solutions. According to Statista, about 9. A-list celebrities make tens of millions of dollars every year. Typical careers that make the most are, not surprisingly, from the medical field.

Other highest paying jobs also belong to the medical fields. Source: Credit Suisse. Income inequality is closely linked to the racial divide in the United States, according to national average pay stats. Poverty is most acute among black Americans and the Hispanic communities. In , about According to the Urban Institute projections as of June 30, , the COVID pandemic response policies may reduce the poverty rates amongst all ethnic groups.

Black Americans may have a poverty rate of Hispanics may show a Among white people, the estimated poverty rate may be 6.

Source: Urban. Let me add some more numbers to emphasize income inequality in the US. Source: EPI. This fact further emphasizes the scenario of income inequality in the US. Below, you will see more about the median household income for each US state, for , based on data compiled by the US Census Bureau:.

Malta USD. Mauritius USD. Mexico USD. Moldova USD. Mongolia USD. Montenegro USD. Nepal USD. Netherlands USD. New Zealand USD. Norway USD. Oman USD. Pakistan USD. Poland USD. Portugal USD. Qatar USD. Romania USD. Russia USD. Serbia USD. Singapore USD. Slovakia USD. Slovenia USD. Spain USD. Sri Lanka USD.

Switzerland USD. Taiwan USD. Tajikistan USD. Thailand USD. Turkey USD. Ukraine USD. United Kingdom USD. United States USD. Uruguay USD. Uzbekistan USD. Vietnam USD. Tax Revenue USD mn. Trade Balance USD mn.

Total Exports USD mn. Aluminum: Exports USD th. Exports: Medicament USD th. It's a tricky problem with no particularly good solution at present. It's no secret that men out-earn women, even in situations where both have similar roles and qualifications. And that's telling, since self-employed folks often get to dictate their own rates. The disparity exists among government workers, too. Here are the median earnings for men:.

It's clear that closing the wage gap will take a lot of work. For now, the best women can probably do is be their own advocates and continuously research salary data for their industries to ensure that they're not being shortchanged on the basis of gender alone. As you progress in your career, your earnings usually climb. But your earnings might also peak before declining as you near retirement.

As you can see, Americans aged 45 to 54 earn more money than both their younger and older counterparts. By contrast, workers under 25 and over 64 earn the least. That means a large number of retirees are, thankfully, supplementing their benefits with pension income, retirement plan withdrawals, earnings from part-time work, or other sources.

The industry you work in largely influences your earnings potential. Not surprisingly, most of the highest-paid U. Here are the 10 most and least lucrative occupations by average annual income:. But remember, many of those same people are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt from having gone to medical or dental school.

Will they come out ahead eventually? But for many people in the medical field, it takes several decades to recoup that investment. Most U. And workers in some industries really struggle to make a livable wage. Here's how the top five occupations compare to the bottom five:. These lower-paying jobs don't require specialized education or training, so they're often a last-but-necessary resort among the non-college-educated who need work.

Geography and earnings often go hand in hand, and in many cases, you'll earn a lot more in the same industry by moving from one state to another. Here's what median income looks like on a state-by-state basis, broken down by male and female earnings:. If we count Washington, D.

You'll often command a much higher salary in a major metro area than in a smaller city or suburb. Here are the top 15 metros where full-time employees ages 16 and over earn the highest annual median income:.

It's not surprising to see tech hubs like San Jose and San Francisco on this list. What is a bit surprising is to see the New York City metro absent from this list. Clearly, its large number of low-income earners cancels out its plethora of hotshot bankers and lawyers.

You might not have expected Los Alamos to be the 1 highest-earning metro area in the country, either. It also has the highest concentration of millionaires anywhere in the country. This is because of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a high-profile lab best known for being the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Many chemists, physicists, doctors, and other highly educated scientists work at LANL, and the average salary reflects that.

Of course, it's easy to be tempted to move to one of these metros in the hopes of snagging a massive pay boost. But remember, some of these cities are among the most expensive in the country to live in, so what you might gain in earnings, you'll likely end up spending on rent and other expenses.

Now that you have a better sense of how much Americans earn on a national level and how those earnings break down by factors such as gender, race, age, occupation, and location, you can take a closer look at your circumstances and see if any changes are in order. Of course, you can't change your race or age, but a couple of things you can change are the industry you choose to work in and the state or metro area you choose to call home.

That said, you don't need to make such drastic changes to boost your earnings. If you're happy with your line of work and enjoy the area you live in, try learning new job skills to make yourself a more valuable employee.

Doing so could result in a nice raise.