U.S. Median Weekly Earnings Reached $1,251 in Q2 2026
Median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers in the United States reached $1,251 in the second quarter of 2026, up 4.6% from a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported July 21.
The increase exceeded the 3.9% rise in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers over the same comparison period cited in the release. That national comparison shows nominal median earnings growing faster than the broad inflation measure used by BLS, but it does not mean every worker or household experienced the same change in purchasing power.
What changed in the latest release
The BLS estimate covers 120.9 million full-time wage and salary workers. For this series, full time means usually working at least 35 hours per week at a main or principal job.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, median weekly earnings rose to $1,258 in the second quarter from $1,233 in the first quarter. The headline $1,251 figure is not seasonally adjusted, so the two measures should not be treated as identical.
Because the figures are medians, half of the workers in the measured group earned more than the median and half earned less. A median is not an average and does not describe the pay of every worker.
Women and men continued to show a wide gap
Women had median weekly earnings of $1,131, compared with $1,380 for men. The women-to-men earnings ratio was 82.0%.
BLS also reported different ratios across race and ethnicity groups. White women earned 81.6% as much as White men, while the ratio was 91.0% for Black workers, 78.3% for Asian workers and 83.5% for Hispanic workers.
Median weekly earnings also differed across the major groups listed in the release: $997 for Hispanic workers, $1,029 for Black workers, $1,268 for White workers and $1,713 for Asian workers.
Those figures describe differences in the earnings distributions. The release does not establish why the gaps exist, and the categories are not mutually exhaustive: Hispanic or Latino workers may be of any race, while the listed race groups do not sum to the total.
Occupation, age and education mattered
Among major occupational groups, management, professional and related occupations had the highest median weekly earnings. The median was $1,928 for men and $1,476 for women in those occupations.
Service occupations had the lowest medians among the major groups, at $920 for men and $730 for women.
Earnings were also highest among workers in the 35-to-54 age range. Men ages 35 to 44 had median weekly earnings of $1,596, while men ages 45 to 54 had a median of $1,571. For women, the medians were $1,249 for ages 35 to 44 and $1,231 for ages 45 to 54.
Workers ages 16 to 24 had the lowest medians: $839 for men and $764 for women.
Education showed another large difference. Among full-time workers age 25 and older, those without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $803. High school graduates with no college had a median of $994, while workers with at least a bachelor’s degree had a median of $1,768.
The education figures show an association, not proof that education alone caused the difference. The BLS release does not separate all factors that can affect pay, including occupation, experience, industry and hours worked.
What the numbers do not show
The earnings series excludes self-employed workers and does not describe part-time pay. It measures usual earnings before taxes and other deductions and can include overtime pay, commissions or tips usually received at a main job.
The estimates come from the Current Population Survey, a monthly national household survey conducted for BLS by the Census Bureau. BLS says the survey covers wage and salary workers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, while excluding incorporated and unincorporated self-employed workers.
BLS cautions that the estimates are subject to sampling and nonsampling error. Sampling variation means an estimate can differ from the true population value, while nonsampling error can arise from issues such as nonresponse or collection and processing mistakes.
The later June 2026 CPI release reported a 3.5% increase over the prior 12 months. That figure covers a different comparison period from the 3.9% CPI comparison included in the July 21 earnings release and should not be substituted for it.
What to watch next
The next quarterly BLS earnings release will provide the next comparison for median weekly pay and consumer-price growth, along with updated differences across worker groups.
For individual workers, the practical measure will still depend on their own pay, hours, job and household spending—not the national median alone.
Sources
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