Average Salary by State in 2026

Washington, D.C. leads the country in average hourly earnings, but among the 50 states, it’s Washington State that takes the top spot at $43.93 per hour.

This map compares average hourly earnings across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., revealing a nearly $30 gap between the highest- and lowest-paying jurisdictions. READ MORE

Unusually Steady Compensation Trend Reveals Slower Wage and Faster Benefit Cost Growth

The U.S. Employment Cost Index (ECI) expanded at a slower 0.8% rate in the three months ended September, the softest quarterly pace since the fourth quarter of 2025 (0.7%). On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, compensation costs have been running at the same 3.4% figure for four consecutive quarters. The four-quarter stability in the annual trend is highly unusual for a cyclical indicator that oscillates with long-term wage cycles over time; it has occurred just 2% of the time since the 1982 inception of the series. A deeper dive beneath the headline ECI figure reveals persistently opposing paths for wages and benefits.

There is a trend divergence between ECI: Wages and Salaries and ECI: Benefits for all civilian workers. The former continued to grind down to 3.1% YoY in 2026’s third quarter, a fresh five-year low. The latter picked up to a 3.9% YoY rate, the highest in three years. Moreover, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) unpublished Health Benefits for Private Industry, a subset of ECI benefits, expanded at a 6.4% YoY pace, matching the 2025 fourth quarter’s 20-year high. The combination of higher benefit inflation and slower wage inflation shows an environment where employers’ management of compensation costs is falling directly on employees. READ MORE

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick's management style: No chief of staff, no 'toxic' discretionary pay programs

Strauss Zelnick is relentlessly focused on making "the best entertainment on earth." There's no confusion about that mission among his employees, he said.

"I have 13,000 colleagues," the Take-Two Interactive CEO said at Business Insider's The Long Play event in New York City on Thursday. "100% of them can and will tell you exactly what I just said." READ MORE

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Minimum wage hikes hurt the very people they’re meant to help: beginners.

In 2014, Seattle became the first major city to adopt a $15 minimum wage. Since then, many states have followed. The results? Some workers earn more, but for many beginners, entry-level job opportunities have vanished. READ MORE

How much income Americans need to retire comfortably in every state

Households around the country are facing financial stress amid persistent inflation, and retirees facing rising expenses need to ensure their income streams can cover costs.

Americans derive their retirement income from a variety of sources, which can include personal retirement savings, such as through a 401(k) plan or IRA, as well as annuities, pension plans and Social Security benefits. READ MORE

Group Disability Plans Cover Base Salary Only, Not Commissions

A wirehouse financial advisor recently asked me to run the numbers on his group long-term disability (LTD) coverage. He had enrolled years earlier and looked at the benefit summary, which indicated coverage for 60% of his earnings — a figure that seemed generous enough.

What he didn’t check was what that 60% was applied to. When I pulled the certificate and double-checked it years later when his wife was pregnant with twins, he was disappointed to learn it provided 60% of his base salary only. READ MORE

Companies are doing a lousy job of dealing with CEO-to-worker pay gaps, survey says

Eighty-four percent of Americans think it’s important for companies to avoid a major pay gap between CEOs and employees, and yet only 15% of Americans believe companies are doing a good job of reining in such gaps, according to a new confidence survey from Bentley University and Gallup.

The study, released this month, found that 97% of Americans also say it is important for business to make money in an ethical way. However, only 32% of Americans say businesses are accomplishing this. READ MORE

Retailers are still figuring out how to tie AI goals to executive compensation

One prominent retailer recently made a change to executive payouts, highlighting how much the industry’s priorities have shifted in recent years. 

Earlier this month, Reuters published a story about how Ralph Lauren added “AI metrics” as one of the factors that could now be used to adjust annual incentive payouts for executives, alongside more traditional business metrics. Reuters found the change in a 131-page SEC disclosure. A Ralph Lauren spokesperson told Reuters that the change reinforced to executives “opportunities for leveraging AI to enhance our work.”  READ MORE

Could an Employer Compensation Tax Save Social Security?

Most tax proposals to increase Social Security trust fund revenue have focused on raising the payroll tax rate or lifting the payroll tax cap to increase the amount of wages subject to the payroll tax. Less attention has been given to other kinds of base broadeners, such as adding fringe employer benefits to the payroll tax base, which have the potential to raise substantial revenue. READ MORE

United CEO silent on $32M compensation after calling wealth gap a 'danger'

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is mum when it comes to his own money, even as he calls for a national wealth tax and says income inequality is a "danger" to society.

Kirby, who took home about $32.3 million in total compensation in fiscal year 2025, made the remarks when asked about declining public trust in corporate executives during an interview with The New York Times. His compensation includes salary, stock awards and performance incentives. That was about 334 times the airline’s median employee compensation of $96,670, according to United’s 2026 proxy statement. READ MORE

What Americans Really Prioritize When It Comes to Affordability

Americans are clear-eyed on what they want the government to do to address the affordability crisis: Step in to lower costs before trying to boost wages.

Six in 10 people say the government should prioritize bringing down the cost of everyday essentials — like groceries, electricity bills and gas prices — rather than prioritize raising household incomes, according to results from The POLITICO Poll conducted this August. READ MORE

Some Progressives Tried To Abolish the Tipped Minimum Wage. Now They're Backtracking.

In recent years, one of the predominant policy initiatives of the progressive left has been raising the minimum wage in locales around the country. At the same time, left-leaning politicians have sought the elimination of what's known as the tip credit, which allows employers to pay restaurant servers and other tipped employees a lower hourly base wage that they then bolster with gratuities.

Just a few years into this experiment, however, policymakers are showing signs of an about-face on the tip credit's abolition as they grapple with the unfortunate, and predictable, economic results. READ MORE

Where a $100K Salary Is Stretching Further: 10 Cities Seeing the Biggest Gains

Despite consistent inflation, a $100,000 salary is actually stretching further in many U.S. cities. According to a recent SmartAsset analysis, the average large city saw a nearly 1% increase in the real value of $100,000 from 2024 to 2025 — with one metro seeing gains of almost 7%.

These shifts reflect changes in local taxes and living costs, so where you live can dramatically affect how far a paycheck really goes. READ MORE

Income inequality at Obama Foundation

The beleaguered Obama Foundation has an income inequality problem: While half of its employees earn six-figure salaries, led by CEO Valerie Jarrett at $771,000, dozens at the other end of the scale are fighting for union representation.

The workplace disparity comes to light just as Fox News Digital reported that the long-delayed Obama Presidential Center's price tag hit $1 billion — nearly triple the original estimate for the Chicago facility. The Obama Foundation, former President Barack Obama's private nonprofit, reported 172 employees receiving more than $100,000 in salary in its 2025 tax filing — roughly half its 342 reported employees. READ MORE

CEO and Executive Compensation Practices in the Russell 3000 and S&P 500: 2026

This report examines CEO and executive compensation disclosed by US public companies during the 2026 proxy season. Drawing on extensive data for the Russell 3000 and S&P 500, it covers CEO pay, compensation elements, representation of women among CEOs, named executive officers (NEOs), say-on-pay voting, incentive design, perquisites, and the regulatory outlook. The broader picture is an executive compensation landscape that is becoming more equity driven and more differentiated by company scale, with scrutiny increasingly concentrated around exceptional awards, above-target incentive outcomes, and arrangements such as executive security. READ MORE

Portland looks at hiking its CEO pay tax … and cutting taxes on small business

Portland City Council is considering raising a tax on corporations that pay outsized CEO salaries — and using some of the revenue to lower taxes on local small businesses.

The council’s Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole took public testimony Oct. 8 on the proposal put forward by District 3 Counselor Angelita Morillo and District 4 Councilor Mitch Green.  READ MORE