BLS OES 2024 · 116 Occupations
See exactly where your salary ranks among US workers in your field and state.
Based on official BLS data for 116 occupations across all 50 US states.
Research-backed guides powered by official BLS 2024 data
The national median annual wage is $49,500, but whether that figure is 'good' depends entirely on your occupation, state, and cost of living. Salary percentiles give you a far more meaningful benchmark — see exactly where you rank in your specific field.
Read more →BLS data gives you an authoritative, hard-to-dispute benchmark for your next salary conversation — far stronger than crowdsourced sites like Glassdoor. If you're below the 50th percentile for your role, you have a concrete, data-backed case for a raise.
Read more →Top executives earn a national median of $189,520, IT managers $169,510, and software developers $127,260 — the highest-paying roles all require advanced education or significant leverage over capital or teams. Technology, management, and healthcare dominate the top tier.
Read more →The BLS surveys 1.1 million employer establishments directly — not self-reported estimates — making it far more accurate than Glassdoor or PayScale. Selection bias systematically inflates crowdsourced figures, especially for tech workers in high-cost cities.
Read more →Workers in California and DC earn 26–38% above the national median, while Mississippi and West Virginia sit 15–20% below — a gap that compounds dramatically over a career. Remote work lets some workers capture the arbitrage between high-wage salaries and low-cost locations.
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