See exactly where your salary ranks among US workers in your field and state.
Based on official BLS data for 116 occupations across all 50 US states.
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A salary percentile tells you what percentage of workers in a given occupation earn less than you. For example, if you're at the 70th percentile, you earn more than 70% of workers in that field. It's a more useful benchmark than a simple average because it shows where you stand across the full distribution of wages.
We use linear interpolation between the BLS wage anchor points (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles) to estimate your exact percentile rank. State figures are derived by applying BLS regional wage indices to the national data. For salaries below the 10th or above the 90th percentile, we flag this clearly rather than extrapolating an unreliable estimate.
All data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) program, May 2024 release. This is the most comprehensive, official source of US occupational wage data, covering over 800 occupations and nearly every industry. We cover 116 occupation groups across all 50 states and Washington D.C.
If you're below the median (50th percentile) for your occupation in your state, you have a data-backed argument for a raise. Come prepared with your percentile result and the BLS benchmark figures from the table below the gauge. Framing your ask around official government data — rather than salary sites — is often more persuasive to employers and hiring managers.
According to BLS OES May 2024 data, the median annual wage across all occupations in the United States is approximately $49,500. However, this varies enormously by occupation — from around $30,000 for food preparation workers to over $236,000 for physicians and surgeons. That's why comparing within your specific occupation is far more meaningful than a national cross-occupation average.
Research-backed guides powered by official BLS 2024 data
The national median annual wage is $49,500, but whether that figure is 'good' depends entirely on your occupation, state, and cost of living. Salary percentiles give you a far more meaningful benchmark — see exactly where you rank in your specific field.
Read more →BLS data gives you an authoritative, hard-to-dispute benchmark for your next salary conversation — far stronger than crowdsourced sites like Glassdoor. If you're below the 50th percentile for your role, you have a concrete, data-backed case for a raise.
Read more →Top executives earn a national median of $189,520, IT managers $169,510, and software developers $127,260 — the highest-paying roles all require advanced education or significant leverage over capital or teams. Technology, management, and healthcare dominate the top tier.
Read more →The BLS surveys 1.1 million employer establishments directly — not self-reported estimates — making it far more accurate than Glassdoor or PayScale. Selection bias systematically inflates crowdsourced figures, especially for tech workers in high-cost cities.
Read more →Workers in California and DC earn 26–38% above the national median, while Mississippi and West Virginia sit 15–20% below — a gap that compounds dramatically over a career. Remote work lets some workers capture the arbitrage between high-wage salaries and low-cost locations.
Read more →