Why salary numbers disagree

Is it the median or the average?

The median is the middle: half of workers earn more, half less. The average (mean) adds everyone’s pay and divides by the number of workers, so a few very high earners pull it up.

The gap can be large. Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers have a median of $232,140 and an average of $288,650. For athletes and sports competitors, the median is $66,710 and the average $206,180. A list that ranks by average and one that ranks by median will not agree. This site ranks by median and shows the average next to it.

Does the number come from employers, postings or self-reports?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey asks employers what they pay their employees. Its full sample is about 1.1 million establishments, collected in six panels over three years.

Many salary websites work differently. They estimate pay from job postings, from salaries users enter themselves, or from a mix. Those sources can be closer to current offers for a specific city or employer, but they can also be thin or skewed for jobs that are rarely advertised. One job-board estimate we checked on October 25, 2026 gave a median well under $50,000 a year for air traffic controllers; the BLS median is $148,080.

What is left out of the BLS figures?

BLS counts straight-time gross pay. Base pay, cost-of-living allowances, hazardous-duty pay, commissions, production bonuses and tips are included. Overtime, severance, shift differentials, non-production bonuses and employer-paid benefits are not.

The survey covers employees only. Self-employed workers, owners and partners of unincorporated businesses, household workers and unpaid family workers are excluded. For some occupations that matters a lot: about 11.3% of lawyers and 12.4% of general dentists were self-employed in 2025, according to BLS projections data.

Which year do the numbers describe?

Each set of BLS estimates has a May reference date and is published the following spring. The May 2025 estimates are the latest. Because each set pools six panels collected over three years, two consecutive releases share much of the same underlying data, and year-to-year changes for a single occupation should be read with care. This site does not show them.

When a list says “2026 salaries,” check which survey and reference period it is actually using.

Why do some state figures say “$239,200 or more”?

In the state files, BLS marks some wage estimates only as “equal to or greater than $115.00 per hour or $239,200 per year” instead of giving the number. Other state estimates above that level are published in full, so the marker is a lower bound for particular cells, not a cap on all of them. It mostly affects physician specialties. On this site those cells appear as “≥ $239,200”; they are not ranked and cannot be adjusted for cost of living. The May 2025 national figures used for the main ranking contain no such cells.

Does a high salary go as far everywhere?

No. The same pay buys less where prices are high. The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes regional price parities, an index of each state’s price level against the national average (100). Dividing a state’s wage by its price parity gives a rough “national-average prices” figure. The state comparison does this for every state, and each occupation page does it for that occupation. The adjustment covers prices, not taxes; BEA notes that housing rents are often the main driver of differences between states.

What “typical education” means

The entry education shown for each occupation is the level BLS considers typical for people entering it, from its Employment Projections program. It is not a legal requirement, and some people in each occupation have more or less education. Licensing rules, which vary by state, are not covered.

A checklist for any salary number

• Median or average?
• Employer survey, job postings or self-reports?
• Which reference period?
• Nationwide, one state, or one city?
• Does it include bonuses, overtime or self-employment income?

Across this dataset of 825 ranked occupations, the national median for all workers is $50,980.