The median individual income for a full-time worker in United States is currently $876 per week, or $45,552 per year. But that number doesn't provide a clear or accurate picture for everyone, as earnings fluctuate depending on factors such as age, race and gender.
Here's the median income American men earn at every age, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the second quarter of 2018:
- 16 to 19 years: $465 weekly/$24,180 annually
- 20 to 24 years: $561 weekly/$29,172 annually
- 25 to 34 years: $857 weekly/$44,564 annually
- 35 to 44 years: $1,085 weekly/$56,420 annually
- 45 to 54 years: $1,108 weekly/$57,616 annually
- 55 to 64 years: $1,127 weekly/$58,604 annually
- 65 years and older: $1,074 weekly/$55,848 annually
Men draw higher wages than women throughout their lives. For comparison, here's the median income American women are earning at every age, according to BLS data:
- 16 to 19 years: $424 weekly/$22,048 annually
- 20 to 24 years: $523 weekly/$27,196 annually
- 25 to 34 years: $738 weekly/$38,376 annually
- 35 to 44 years: $866 weekly/$45,032 annually
- 45 to 54 years: $854 weekly/$44,408 annually
- 55 to 64 years: $856 weekly/$44,512 annually
- 65 years and older: $925 weekly/$48,100 annually
This is partially because male college graduates earn more from the get-go. They bring home a median salary of $50,200 at age 22 while their female counterparts earn $39,800 per year, a difference of $10,400.
"Whenever you're talking about the differences in earnings between men and women, it often ties back to the jobs that they're actually holding," PayScale's vice president of data analytics Katie Bardaro told CNBC Make It.
While more women hold lower-paying jobs as nurses, teachers and social workers, men are more concentrated in high-paying jobs that also feature higher earnings over time, like software developer and engineer, Bardaro said.
Still, the pay gap is a reality for women at every age and in every American state: Overall, they only earn 81.3 percent as much as men, according to the BLS. This year, April 10th marked Equal Pay Day, which is the time a woman has to work into the new year to symbolically achieve the same pay a man earned the previous year.
For African-American women, Equal Pay Day isn't recognized until August 7th. For Native American and Latina women, it isn't until September 7th and November 1st. (Equal Pay Day for Asian American and Pacific Islander women was marked on February 22, but massive pay gaps persist between subgroups.)
This is an updated version of a previously published article.
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