Average annual wages (selected years, 2022 dollars) and percent change in annual wages over time, by wage group, 1979–2022
| Average annual wages (2022 dollars) | Long-term | Pandemic labor market | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1979 | 1989 | 2000 | 2007 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 1979–2019 | 1979–2022 | 2021–2022 | 2019–2022 |
| Bottom 90% | $30,730 | $31,726 | $35,496 | $36,629 | $39,810 | $40,928 | $40,845 | 29.5% | 32.9% | -0.2% | 2.6% |
| 90th–99th | $100,819 | $115,808 | $149,410 | $159,999 | $178,941 | $187,609 | $183,511 | 77.5% | 82.0% | -2.2% | 2.6% |
| 90th–95th | $85,586 | $93,717 | $119,261 | $126,829 | $140,384 | $145,178 | $142,845 | 64.0% | 66.9% | -1.6% | 1.8% |
| 95th–99th | $119,860 | $143,422 | $187,096 | $201,461 | $227,136 | $240,648 | $234,342 | 89.5% | 95.5% | -2.6% | 3.2% |
| Upper 5% | $153,738 | $211,082 | $293,194 | $312,023 | $335,037 | $375,904 | $344,667 | 117.9% | 124.2% | -8.3% | 2.9% |
| Upper 1% | $289,249 | $481,722 | $717,585 | $754,272 | $766,640 | $916,928 | $785,968 | 165.0% | 171.7% | -14.3% | 2.5% |
| 99.0th–99.9th | $250,947 | $369,807 | $481,841 | $514,513 | $542,370 | $606,884 | $560,249 | 116.1% | 123.3% | -7.7% | 3.3% |
| 99.9th–100th | $633,971 | $1,488,960 | $2,839,274 | $2,912,102 | $2,785,071 | $3,707,327 | $2,817,436 | 339.3% | 344.4% | -24.0% | 1.2% |
| Average | $39,623 | $43,793 | $52,569 | $54,908 | $59,600 | $62,889 | $61,136 | 50.4% | 54.3% | -2.8% | 2.6% |
Source: EPI analysis of Kopczuk, Saez, and Song, “Uncovering the American Dream: Inequality and Mobility in Social Security Earnings Data Since 1937” (2007) and Social Security Administration wage statistics.