Money · 1 of 5
What economists make
Median
$124,720
Bottom tenth
$67,360
Top tenth
$238,060
The national median is $124,720 a year, the bottom tenth earn $67,360 or less and the top tenth $238,060 or more, in the 2025 federal wage survey. The survey only counts people whose job title is economist. Plenty of economics graduates work as financial analysts, data scientists or policy analysts and get counted somewhere else.