Average weekly wages highest in D.C. and lowest in Mississippi in fourth quarter 2016

Average weekly wages in the United States were $1,067 in the fourth quarter of 2016. The average was $1,763 in the District of Columbia, $1,352 in Massachusetts, and $1,342 in New York. Mississippi had the lowest average week wage, $756 in the fourth quarter. The average was $800 in Idaho and $809 in West Virginia.

The U.S. average weekly wage decreased 1.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2016. This is one of only eight declines in the history of the series, which dates back to 1978. The 1.5-percent decline in average weekly wages was the largest decline since fourth quarter 2011, when average weekly wages decreased by 1.7 percent. The most recent decline occurred in first quarter 2016, when the U.S. average weekly wage decreased 0.6 percent over the year.

These data are from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. To learn more, see "County Employment and Wages, Fourth Quarter 2016" (HTML) (PDF). For industry employment and wage data at the national, state, county, and metropolitan area levels, see the data viewer tool or QCEW Open Data Access.