Mean Salary (Average Salary)
The arithmetic average of all salaries for a role, calculated by adding all salaries and dividing by the number of workers. Typically higher than the median because high earners pull the average up.
Mean Salary (Average Salary) is a term from U.S. wage and occupational data — typically a concept from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, the DOL prevailing-wage system, or related employment statistics. The definition here is the practical worker-facing meaning. Understanding Mean Salary (Average Salary) is part of reading wage data defensibly. BLS and DOL conventions can be subtle — survey methodology, reporting thresholds, geographic definitions, and percentile calculations all shape what the headline numbers actually mean.
Each role-and-city page on SalaryTruth surfaces the Mean Salary (Average Salary)-relevant values for that specific combination, so the general definition here translates into concrete numbers on the per-role-and-city pages.
How It Works
The mean salary is calculated by summing all wages and dividing by the total number of workers. For most occupations, the mean is higher than the median because the salary distribution is "right-skewed", there are more extremely high earners pulling the average up than extremely low earners pulling it down. For example, if the median software engineer salary is $120,000, the mean might be $135,000 because a subset of senior engineers, architects, and leads earn $200,000-$400,000+. This gap between mean and median is a useful signal: a large gap indicates significant pay inequality within the occupation, where a small number of top earners substantially outpace the majority. The mean is useful for understanding total wage expenditure (employers multiplying mean by headcount to budget), but the median is more useful for individual workers asking "what should I expect to earn?" SalaryTruth shows both metrics so you can see the full picture.
Related Terms
- Median Salary, The middle point of all salaries for a given role, half of workers earn more, half earn less. More useful than average salary because it isn't skewed by extremely high or low earners.
- Salary Percentile, Your position in the salary distribution, the 75th percentile (p75) means you earn more than 75% of workers in the same role. BLS reports p10, p25, p50, p75, and p90.
- Wage Distribution, The full range and spread of salaries for a given occupation, from the lowest earners (p10) to the highest (p90), revealing how pay varies by experience, location, and employer.
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About This Definition
This definition is part of the SalaryTruth Salary & Career Glossary, 25 terms explaining compensation, salary data, and career development. All salary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey.