Hourly wages of all workers, by wage percentile, selected years, 1979–2020
| Year/range | 10th | 20th | 30th | 40th | 50th | 60th | 70th | 80th | 90th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | $9.87 | $10.87 | $12.80 | $14.90 | $17.00 | $20.12 | $23.56 | $27.67 | $33.74 | $41.66 |
| 1989 | 8.19 | 10.17 | 12.27 | 14.56 | 17.05 | 20.17 | 24.03 | 28.47 | 36.34 | 44.88 |
| 2000 | 9.21 | 11.27 | 13.42 | 15.24 | 18.11 | 21.27 | 25.49 | 30.89 | 40.67 | 52.02 |
| 2007 | 9.45 | 11.38 | 13.43 | 15.76 | 18.71 | 21.95 | 26.25 | 32.48 | 43.71 | 56.45 |
| 2018 | 10.27 | 12.27 | 14.34 | 16.43 | 19.38 | 22.70 | 27.59 | 34.84 | 48.94 | 65.05 |
| 2019 | 10.20 | 12.46 | 14.82 | 16.91 | 19.57 | 23.23 | 28.29 | 35.42 | 48.68 | 67.97 |
| 2020 | 11.02 | 13.42 | 15.31 | 17.98 | 20.92 | 24.96 | 30.02 | 37.94 | 52.88 | 78.28 |
| Annualized percent changes | ||||||||||
| 1979–1989 | -1.9% | -0.7% | -0.4% | -0.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.7% | 0.7% |
| 1989–2000 | 1.1% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 1.3% |
| 2000–2007 | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.7% | 1.0% | 1.2% |
| 2007–2019 | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 1.6% |
| 2019–2020 | 8.0% | 7.7% | 3.3% | 6.3% | 6.9% | 7.4% | 6.1% | 7.1% | 8.6% | 15.2% |
Note: Wages are adjusted for inflation using the CPI-U-RS. The xth-percentile wage is the wage at which x% of wage earners earn less and (100−x)% earn more.
Source: Authors' analysis of EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.14 (2021), https://microdata.epi.org.