Cumulative percent change in real annual wages, by wage group, 1979–2023

Year Bottom 90% 90th–95th percentile 95th–99th percentile Top 1%
1979 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
1980 -2.2% -1.5% -0.7% 3.9%
1981 -2.2% -1.3% 0.3% 4.1%
1982 -3.0% -0.1% 3.1% 11.2%
1983 -2.1% 2.4% 5.5% 15.7%
1984 0.4% 4.4% 8.6% 23.3%
1985 1.0% 5.4% 10.4% 25.8%
1986 3.0% 8.3% 14.4% 35.2%
1987 3.0% 8.0% 16.2% 55.2%
1988 2.6% 8.0% 18.2% 70.3%
1989 3.3% 9.5% 19.7% 66.6%
1990 2.6% 7.8% 18.0% 68.5%
1991 1.4% 16.6% 21.7% 50.3%
1992 2.4% 19.5% 24.3% 68.5%
1993 1.7% 19.5% 26.1% 63.5%
1994 3.5% 22.5% 29.4% 61.3%
1995 4.7% 24.4% 32.6% 72.9%
1996 5.2% 25.1% 34.6% 80.2%
1997 7.7% 28.0% 39.7% 96.3%
1998 12.1% 33.8% 46.9% 112.8%
1999 14.7% 37.1% 51.9% 130.8%
2000 15.6% 39.4% 56.2% 148.2%
2001 16.6% 40.6% 56.1% 127.4%
2002 17.2% 41.9% 55.3% 112.5%
2003 17.9% 43.3% 57.5% 114.7%
2004 19.0% 45.4% 60.3% 132.3%
2005 19.1% 46.4% 63.1% 142.4%
2006 20.9% 49.6% 68.2% 153.0%
2007 22.1% 51.8% 72.2% 167.1%
2008 21.6% 51.9% 70.6% 147.5%
2009 21.4% 52.9% 70.1% 124.7%
2010 21.3% 54.2% 73.4% 141.6%
2011 20.4% 54.6% 74.4% 144.7%
2012 21.0% 55.4% 76.7% 161.0%
2013 21.6% 56.3% 78.0% 149.5%
2014 23.7% 59.0% 82.1% 163.0%
2015 28.0% 64.3% 88.6% 170.9%
2016 29.2% 65.4% 89.8% 163.5%
2017 31.1% 67.1% 92.0% 174.7%
2018 33.6% 69.8% 95.3% 176.6%
2019 36.8% 73.3% 100.2% 180.0%
2020 37.1% 77.7% 106.8% 197.4%
2021 41.7% 80.4% 113.6% 237.2%
2022 42.4% 78.8% 109.5% 191.2%
2023 43.7% 78.4% 107.5% 181.7%
View the underlying data on epi.org.