What is The Average Income in America?
by Supposing one of the eight takes an entry level job and earns $30,000 per year and another is a sports prodigy and gets signed to a professional contract worth two million dollars per year.
If you are to ask the question, what is the average income in America? The question is a tricky one. This is because incomes statistics are generally give as median figures. The Census bureau, the main source of up-to-date information on incomes, likewise avoids placing average incomes as a statistical measurement of incomes in the United States on their websites. Does this mean that it is impossible to come up with average salaries of US households? Technically, the answer is yes, but theoretically, after slicing and dicing the statistical data available, we can get an approximate figure. Incomes statistics are generally given by age, race, income level and gender among others. Thus, while you may find an exact figure to deduce for a certainty the average salaries of U.S. citizens, we can offer a range.
Consider also why average salaries in America are not exactly an average figure. While it is very easy to calculate the mean and median for a given set of data, often these representations are of typical situations. Thus, median and average when it comes to salaries, in reality refers to ‘typical’. Let us give an illustration of typical America and see why ‘average salaries’ do not work in our society.
Suppose 10 high school students graduate and 8 of them go to college while the rest do not, thus do not take jobs. Supposing one of the eight takes an entry level job and earns $30,000 per year and another is a sports prodigy and gets signed to a professional contract worth two million dollars per year. Calculating the average salaries for these ten people would come to about $200,000 per year while the median would be $0.00 per year. It is obviously clear that neither of the above figures gives a good picture of the situation.
Salaries in the United States vary widely depending on the industry, the employment setting, and state among many other factors. Even when narrowed down to single professions, the range of possible average salaries is still substantially wide. Salary research is thus done narrowing the search to specific criteria based on qualifications, title, and location among other things. This research, when done right can give one a good idea of salary expectations especially when negotiating for salary offers. From statistical data available however, we can deduce the average salaries of Americans to be between the ranges of $33,000 to $37,000.
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