Where Data Tells the Story
© Voronoi 2026. All rights reserved.
The 2022 median annual salary by educational level in the U.S. for full-time workers over the age of 25. Figures are as of May 2023 from the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics.
It pays to stay in school. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that median earnings increase as educational levels increase.
On the upper end of the spectrum, doctoral and professional degree holders typically make over $100,000 annually.
In comparison, people who didn’t finish their high school diploma usually take home around $35,464 every year.
Income isn’t the only thing that fluctuates the longer you stay in school. BLS data shows that unemployment rates also decrease with higher education levels.
Doctoral degree holders only saw an unemployment rate of 1% in 2022, while people without a high school diploma had the highest unemployment rate at 5.5%.