Salary FYI

Average Salary

Economics

The arithmetic mean of all salaries in a group, calculated by dividing the total salary sum by the number of earners, which can be skewed by extremely high or low values.

## Average Salary

The average (mean) salary is the total of all salaries divided by the number of earners. While widely reported, it can be misleading when income distribution is skewed.

### When to Use Average vs. Median

| Use Average When | Use Median When |
|------------------|----------------|
| Distribution is symmetric | Distribution is skewed |
| Calculating total payroll costs | Representing 'typical' earnings |
| Employer budgeting | Individual comparison |

### Global Average Salaries

OECD tracks average annual wages across member nations. The US average (~$77,000) is consistently higher than the median (~$56,000), illustrating the impact of high earners on the mean.

### Caution

Job postings and salary reports often mix average and median without clarification. Always check which measure is being used. For tech roles in particular, the average can be 30–50% higher than the median due to highly paid senior engineers and managers.