The Fact
An average (mean) adds everyone’s earnings and divides by the number of workers. A small number of very high earners can therefore pull the average upward. The median is different: it is the midpoint, with half of workers above it and half below it.
What This Means
“Average pay” and “typical pay” are not automatically the same thing. When earnings are unevenly distributed, the median often answers the everyday question—what does the worker in the middle earn?—better than the mean.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics FAQ: mean and median wages. https://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPS Earnings FAQ: why CPS uses medians. https://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings-faqs.htm Accessed October 2, 2026.