U.S. citizens with a professional degree had the highest median household income in 2023, at 172,100 U.S. dollars. In comparison, those with less than a 9th grade education made significantly less money, at 35,690 U.S. dollars. Household income The median household income in the United States has fluctuated since 1990, but rose to around 70,000 U.S. dollars in 2021. Maryland had the highest median household income in the United States in 2021. Maryland’s high levels of wealth is due to several reasons, and includes the state's proximity to the nation's capital. Household income and ethnicity The median income of white non-Hispanic households in the United States had been on the rise since 1990, but declining since 2019. While income has also been on the rise, the median income of Hispanic households was much lower than those of white, non-Hispanic private households. However, the median income of Black households is even lower than Hispanic households. Income inequality is a problem without an easy solution in the United States, especially since ethnicity is a contributing factor. Systemic racism contributes to the non-White population suffering from income inequality, which causes the opportunity for growth to stagnate.

Mean and median income by educational attainment level

In 2023 the mean earnings of Bachelor's degree holders in the United States amounted to 86,970 U.S. dollars. People with higher education degrees tended to earn more than those without. For example, high school graduates, including those with a GED, had mean earnings of 46,720 U.S. dollars.

In 2023, the mean income of women with a doctorate degree in the United States stood at 139,100 U.S. dollars. For men with the same degree, mean earnings stood at 175,500 U.S. dollars. On average in 2023, American men earned 91,590 U.S. dollars, while American women earned 65,987 U.S. dollars.

The age groups available in the dataset are: 15+, 25+, 25-34, 25-54 and 25-64. Type of work includes full-time and part-time. The educational levels include: 0-8 yrs., some high school, high school graduate, some post-secondary, post-secondary certificate diploma and university degree. Wages include average weekly wage rate. The immigration statuses include: total landed immigrants (very recent immigrants, recent immigrants, established immigrants), non-landed immigrants and born in Canada.

Employment income (in 2019 and 2020) by highest certificate, diploma or degree, for census divisions and municipalities.

The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) collects timely and comparable multidimensional microdata on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions.

The EU-SILC collection is a key instrument for providing information required by the European Semester (_[1]) and the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the main source of data for microsimulation purposes and flash estimates of income distribution and poverty rates.

AROPE remains crucial to monitor European social policies, especially to monitor the EU 2030 target on poverty and social exclusion. For more information, please consult EU social indicators.

The EU-SILC instrument provides two types of data:

• Cross-sectional data pertaining to a given time or a certain time period with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and other living conditions.
• Longitudinal data pertaining to individual-level changes over time, observed periodically over four‐or more year rotation scheme (Annex III (2) of 2019/1700).

EU-SILC collects:

• annual variables,
• three-yearly modules,
• six-yearly modules,
• ad-hoc new policy needs modules,
• optional variables.

The variables collected are grouped by topic and detailed topic and transmitted to Eurostat in four main files (D-File, H-File, R-File and P-file).

The domain ‘Income and Living Conditions’ covers the following topics: persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion, income inequality, income distribution and monetary poverty, living conditions, material deprivation, and EU-SILC ad-hoc modules, which are structured into collections of indicators on specific topics.

In 2023, in addition to annual data, in EU-SILC were collected: the three yearly module on labour market and housing, the six yearly module on intergenerational transmission of advantages and disadvantages, housing difficulties, and the ad hoc subject on households energy efficiency.

Starting from 2021 onwards, the EU quality reports use the structure of the Single Integrated Metadata Structure (SIMS).

_{([1]) The European Semester is the European Union’s framework for the coordination and surveillance of economic and social policies.}

In the United States, women holding a bachelor's degree earned, on average, 1,352 U.S. dollars per week in the second quarter of 2024. This can be compared with male bachelor's degree holders who on average earn 1,757 U.S dollars.

Income categorized by education level from 2011 to 2017. Data from ACS.

In 2023, the mean income of Black Bachelor's degree holders was ****** U.S. dollars, compared to ****** U.S. dollars for White Americans with a Bachelor's degree.

Average earnings, by age group and highest level of education, from the 2016 Census of Population.

In France, in 2021, people who did not possess any kind of diploma had an annual wage income after social contributions of *******euros. In comparison, the same year, those who graduated with the baccalauréat, the high school final exam, received around ****** euros. French people who studied for a minimum of three years for a higher education degree, earned the most with ****** euros.

Employment income (in 2019 and 2020) by major field of study and highest certificate, diploma or degree, for cities. Includes five-year age groups, for the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP).

Graph and download economic data for Unemployment Rate - Education and Health Services, Private Wage and Salary Workers (LNU04032240) from Jan 2000 to Aug 2025 about health, salaries, workers, education, 16 years +, wages, household survey, services, private, unemployment, rate, and USA.

Average disposable income and median income by education level of income earners

Graph and download economic data for Wage and Salary Workers Paid Hourly Rates: 16 Years and Over: College Graduates: Bachelor's Degree and Higher (BDAHC1) from 2002 to 2024 about paid, tertiary schooling, salaries, workers, education, hours, 16 years +, wages, rate, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Median usual weekly nominal earnings (second quartile): Wage and salary workers: High School graduates, no college: 25 years and over (LEU0252917300A) from 1979 to 2024 about no college, second quartile, secondary schooling, secondary, 25 years +, full-time, salaries, workers, earnings, education, wages, median, employment, and USA.

This data collection contains information gathered in the Survey of Income and Education (SIE) conducted in April-July 1976 by the Census Bureau for the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). Although national estimates of the number of children in poverty were available each year from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), those estimates were not statistically reliable on a state-by-state basis. In enacting the Educational Amendments of 1974, Congress mandated that HEW conduct a survey to obtain reliable state-by-state data on the numbers of school-age children in local areas with family incomes below the federal poverty level. This was the statistic that determined the amount of grant a local educational agency was entitled to under Title 1, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. (Such funds were distributed by HEW's Office of Education.) The SIE was the survey created to fulfill that mandate. Its questions include those used in the Current Population Survey regarding current employment, past work experience, and income. Additional questions covering school enrollment, disability, health insurance, bilingualism, food stamp recipiency, assets, and housing costs enabled the study of the poverty concept and of program effectiveness in reaching target groups. Basic household information also was recorded, including tenure of unit (a determination of whether the occupants of the living quarters owned, rented, or occupied the unit without rent), type of unit, household language, and for each member of the household: age, sex, race, ethnicity, marital history, and education.

In 2023, workers holding a bachelor's degree or higher in the United States earned an average of 1,609 U.S. dollars per week, the most out of any educational attainment group. In total, full-time wage and salary workers earned 1,170 U.S. dollars per week.

In 2023, the average income of women with a university degree in Brazil was ***** Brazilian reals per month. For men with the same degree, the average income was ***** reals. At all levels of education, Brazilian men's earnings were higher than those of their female counterparts.