How much does a typical US full-time worker earn each week?

The typical (median) full-time worker earned $1,232 a week in the third quarter of 2026, up from $234 in early 1979, about 5.3 times as much. That is in dollars of the day, not adjusted for inflation: consumer prices rose about 4.8 times from early 1979 to mid-2026. The fourth quarter of 2025 is missing because a lapse in federal funding stopped the survey in October 2025.

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Key facts

Measure: Median weekly earnings, full-time wage and salary workers, dollars. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for Q3 2026, is $1,232.
  • That is 5.3 times the Q1 1979 figure, $234.
  • The highest was $1,251 in Q2 2026.
  • The lowest was $234 in Q1 1979.

The bigger picture, in plain words: Is pay keeping up with inflation?

This chart is one of the 50 in The U.S. in 50 charts, 2026, a yearly report of the key numbers on how the country is doing.

How does your pay compare? Check your salary against typical pay for your kind of job and the typical full-time worker. Your pay stays in your browser.

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Source and date

Source
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings (Current Population Survey)
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How much does a typical US full-time worker earn each week?” Chart. Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings (Current Population Survey), https://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings.htm (data as of September 30, 2026). https://chart.ly/charts/typical-weekly-pay (accessed November 4, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

Quarter Median weekly earnings, full-time wage and salary workers, dollars
Q1 1979 234
Q2 1979 239
Q3 1979 240
Q4 1979 249
Q1 1980 256
Q2 1980 257
Q3 1980 262
Q4 1980 271
Q1 1981 278
Q2 1981 279
Q3 1981 281
Q4 1981 294
Q1 1982 298
Q2 1982 301
Q3 1982 299
Q4 1982 308
Q1 1983 311
Q2 1983 311
Q3 1983 311
Q4 1983 318
Q1 1984 323
Q2 1984 323
Q3 1984 322
Q4 1984 335
Q1 1985 336
Q2 1985 347
Q3 1985 340
Q4 1985 351
Q1 1986 354
Q2 1986 358
Q3 1986 354
Q4 1986 368
Q1 1987 369
Q2 1987 371
Q3 1987 371
Q4 1987 381
Q1 1988 385
Q2 1988 382
Q3 1988 381
Q4 1988 392
Q1 1989 397
Q2 1989 398
Q3 1989 395
Q4 1989 408
Q1 1990 413
Q2 1990 411
Q3 1990 406
Q4 1990 419
Q1 1991 432
Q2 1991 422
Q3 1991 421
Q4 1991 432
Q1 1992 443
Q2 1992 436
Q3 1992 437
Q4 1992 445
Q1 1993 456
Q2 1993 455
Q3 1993 456
Q4 1993 467
Q1 1994 469
Q2 1994 465
Q3 1994 462
Q4 1994 472
Q1 1995 478
Q2 1995 475
Q3 1995 479
Q4 1995 484
Q1 1996 489
Q2 1996 486
Q3 1996 488
Q4 1996 499
Q1 1997 504
Q2 1997 499
Q3 1997 499
Q4 1997 511
Q1 1998 521
Q2 1998 515
Q3 1998 520
Q4 1998 541
Q1 1999 538
Q2 1999 543
Q3 1999 546
Q4 1999 568
Q1 2000 573
Q2 2000 569
Q3 2000 574
Q4 2000 585
Q1 2001 589
Q2 2001 592
Q3 2001 596
Q4 2001 606
Q1 2002 611
Q2 2002 605
Q3 2002 603
Q4 2002 613
Q1 2003 620
Q2 2003 616
Q3 2003 618
Q4 2003 625
Q1 2004 634
Q2 2004 639
Q3 2004 632
Q4 2004 647
Q1 2005 653
Q2 2005 643
Q3 2005 649
Q4 2005 659
Q1 2006 668
Q2 2006 659
Q3 2006 675
Q4 2006 682
Q1 2007 693
Q2 2007 690
Q3 2007 695
Q4 2007 700
Q1 2008 719
Q2 2008 719
Q3 2008 720
Q4 2008 728
Q1 2009 738
Q2 2009 734
Q3 2009 738
Q4 2009 748
Q1 2010 754
Q2 2010 740
Q3 2010 740
Q4 2010 752
Q1 2011 755
Q2 2011 753
Q3 2011 753
Q4 2011 764
Q1 2012 769
Q2 2012 771
Q3 2012 758
Q4 2012 775
Q1 2013 773
Q2 2013 776
Q3 2013 771
Q4 2013 786
Q1 2014 796
Q2 2014 780
Q3 2014 790
Q4 2014 799
Q1 2015 808
Q2 2015 801
Q3 2015 803
Q4 2015 825
Q1 2016 830
Q2 2016 824
Q3 2016 827
Q4 2016 849
Q1 2017 865
Q2 2017 859
Q3 2017 859
Q4 2017 857
Q1 2018 881
Q2 2018 876
Q3 2018 887
Q4 2018 900
Q1 2019 905
Q2 2019 908
Q3 2019 919
Q4 2019 936
Q1 2020 957
Q2 2020 1,002
Q3 2020 994
Q4 2020 984
Q1 2021 989
Q2 2021 990
Q3 2021 1,001
Q4 2021 1,010
Q1 2022 1,037
Q2 2022 1,041
Q3 2022 1,070
Q4 2022 1,085
Q1 2023 1,100
Q2 2023 1,100
Q3 2023 1,118
Q4 2023 1,145
Q1 2024 1,139
Q2 2024 1,143
Q3 2024 1,165
Q4 2024 1,192
Q1 2025 1,194
Q2 2025 1,196
Q3 2025 1,214
Q1 2026 1,235
Q2 2026 1,251
Q3 2026 1,232

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