Below is the cleanest way to look at it: average annual U.S. wage/salary by decade, using the Social Security National Average Wage Index where available.
For 1951 onward, SSA is the best consistent series.
Earlier decades are less clean, so treat 1900–1940 as approximate historical wage/earnings figures, not perfectly comparable modern “salary” data.
| Decade | Approx. average annual U.S. wage/salary |
|---|---|
| 1900s | ~$500–$750 |
| 1910s | ~$550–$1,100 |
| 1920s | ~$1,300–$1,500 |
| 1930s | ~$1,300–$1,400 |
| 1940s | ~$1,700–$2,700 |
| 1950s | ~$3,341 |
| 1960s | ~$4,763 |
| 1970s | ~$8,510 |
| 1980s | ~$16,420 |
| 1990s | ~$25,004 |
| 2000s | ~$36,610 |
| 2010s | ~$47,365 |
| 2020s | ~$63,293 so far, 2020–2024 |
A few important notes:
The SSA National Average Wage Index begins in 1951 and reports 2024 at $69,846.57, up from $66,621.80 in 2023. SSA says the wage data are based on wages subject to federal income taxes plus deferred compensation contributions.
For the 1950s, I averaged SSA’s 1951–1959 figures because the series starts in 1951, not 1950. SSA lists 1951 at $2,799.16 and 1959 at $3,855.80.
For the 1920s, one historical series from FRED/NBER tracks “Average Absolute Annual Earnings” for manufacturing wage earners. It shows $1,317 in January 1920 and $1,337 in December 1928, in dollars per year.
For the 1930s, the National Archives notes that the 1940 Census found average income of $1,368, while unemployment averaged 18.26% in the 1930s.
For the 1900s, wage-earning men averaged $11.16 per week in 1905, while women averaged $6.17 per week; annual family income averaged $749.50 in 1903.
So the broad story is: roughly $500–$1,500 per year before World *** II, around $3,000–$5,000 by the 1950s/60s, around $25,000 by the 1990s, and around $70,000 by 2024.