Data story · October 21, 2026 · All data stories
A salary can feel generous in one place and thin in another. County data shows part of why: housing costs, home values most of all, vary more across the country than what workers earn.
The picture
For each measure, the bar shows how many times larger the county at the 90th percentile is than the county at the 10th percentile. A bar of 1× would mean every county looks alike.
| Measure (counties) | 10th percentile | Median | 90th percentile | Counties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earnings, bachelor's degree | $47,467 | $58,331 | $72,940 | 2,476 |
| Earnings, high school diploma | $32,195 | $39,066 | $45,872 | 2,696 |
| Household income | $48,560 | $65,625 | $89,667 | 3,051 |
| Median rent | $681 | $883 | $1,421 | 2,940 |
| Median home value | $110,200 | $188,550 | $393,130 | 3,028 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates (county tables B20004, B19013, B25064 and B25077); percentiles across counties computed by MajorPays, counties not weighted by population. Only counties whose estimate meets MajorPays’ margin-of-error rule are included.
What stands out
- Pay varies, but within a band. Median earnings of workers with a bachelor’s degree are 1.5 times as high at the 90th-percentile county as at the 10th. For workers with a high school diploma the ratio is 1.4.
- Housing varies more, most of all home values. Median rent is 2.1 times as high at the 90th percentile as at the 10th, and median home value is 3.6 times as high.
- Across counties, the median of bachelor’s-degree earnings is about $58,331, the median rent about $883 a month and the median home value about $188,550 (each median is taken over the counties that have that measure).
What this does and does not say
These are county-level medians for everyone in the county, and counties are of very different sizes, so the numbers describe places and not any one household. Rent and home value measure what housing costs now or recently; earnings are for everyone 25 and over with earnings, including part-time workers. The pattern is still useful: when you compare a pay figure across places, look at housing next to it. MajorPays shows rent and home value beside pay on every state, county, city and ZIP page, and does not rank places.
How we computed this
For each measure we use the published county estimate where its margin of error was small enough, take the 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles across those counties, and divide the 90th by the 10th.
MajorPays shares information, not advice. Figures are group statistics from U.S. government sources, not predictions for any person, and MajorPays does not rank schools or places. See our methodology.