“Median” Rare! PA Median Wage Heats Up—Nearly $1 more than the National Median in 2023
Figure 1
The median wage—the wage of someone who earns more than half of other PA workers and less than the other half—is an important measure used to evaluate the health of an economy. By definition, it reflects the earnings of “middle-wage” workers and gives one indication of how Pennsylvania’s middle-class is faring economically.
Currently, in the last year, in the last four years (since 2019), and in the last decade, Pennsylvania median-wage workers are faring better than they have since the 1970s.
Median-wage workers in Pennsylvania enjoyed a $2.99 per hour inflation-adjusted wage boost over the past decade, including an 83 cent per hour increase in 2023 alone, the last year for which we have data. In 2023, the Pennsylvania median wage was $24.90, 104% of the national median wage (which was $23.98), marking Pennsylvania’s highest median relative to the United States since 1997. Figure 2 compares the U.S. and PA median wage over time.
Figure 2
Relative to their national counterparts, Pennsylvania median-wage workers now find themselves in a similar position to 45 years ago (in 1979), just before the massive loss of steel and other manufacturing jobs brought a decade of downward mobility. Pennsylvania median-wage workers now earn nearly a dollar per hour more than U.S. median-wage workers (Figure 3).
Figure 3
Keystone Research Center released its annual report on the economy “State of Working Pennsylvania 2024” on August 27th. This is the fifth of a series of blogs focused on smaller, more digestible, pieces of our report. To access the full report, including full references for this specific blog, and other “State of Working Pennsylvania” resources, please visit our 2024 State of Working Pennsylvania Resource page here.