(Roughly) Daily

Nathan Yau is back with a(nother) arresting graphic analysis– this time, of the median salaries of different occupations in the U.S. (based on 2024– so, pre-purge— data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics). The median salary for full-time workers in the United States was $49,500; but salaries vary by occupation. The interactive infographic featured in the screengrab above shows– and allows you to explore– the spread…

Healthcare practitioners, such as surgeons and emergency medicine physicians, sit at the top. Airline pilot is the only occupation with a median salary above $220,000 that is not in the healthcare category. Then there are the CEOs and managers, followed by computer and math jobs. After that, most jobs sit below the $100,000-mark by median…

… The internet tends to skew our perception of how much people make. We see the things that people buy, but that is not always a good indicator for the wages people earn. These distributions are more bottom heavy than you might expect if you based your estimates on social media.

That said, all these jobs have a range of salaries, too. It’s not just variation within job categories, but variation for each job. The above charts, along with median salary, show 25th and 75th percentiles.

For example, construction supervisors make a median salary of $78,690, but 25% made $62,400 or less (25th percentile) and 75% made $100,200 or less (75th percentile).

There are also geographic differences, made more interesting by cost of living, but we’ll save that for another time…

Explore the comparative data: “Salary and Occupation” from @flowingdata.com.

It is, of course, important to remember (in a time like this, when so much attention is paid to the very rich) that this data excludes “unearned income,” the revenue that accrues to wealth (stocks, bonds, real estate, et al.) and the benefits of “contingent” stock/option bonuses. Along with inherited wealth, they explain most of the wealth gap (and economic angst) that plagues the U.S. today.

* Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

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As we investigate inequity, we might recall that on this date in 1859, Norton I distributed letters to the newspapers of San Francisco proclaiming himself Emperor of North America…

At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last 9 years and 10 months past of S. F., Cal., declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. S.; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall, of this city, on the 1st day of Feb. next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.

– NORTON I, Emperor of the United States.

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