Wage Distribution

How It Works

Wage distribution shows the complete pay landscape for a role, not just a single number. A narrow distribution (small gap between p10 and p90) indicates relatively uniform pay — common in government jobs, unionized occupations, and highly regulated industries. A wide distribution (large gap) indicates that experience, location, specialization, or employer type dramatically affect earnings — common in tech, finance, medicine, and sales. Understanding the distribution helps with career planning: if the p90 for your occupation is only 20% above the median, you'll need to change roles or industries to significantly increase earnings. If the p90 is 3x the p10, there's substantial upside available through skill development, specialization, or geographic relocation. BLS wage distribution data is collected through the semi-annual Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, covering approximately 1.1 million establishments and representing about 59% of employment in the United States. This makes it one of the most statistically robust compensation datasets available.

Related Terms

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.