The Democrats' best card
Clinton +7.1%
From $312 to $334, December 1992 to December 2000.
The chart they hide: Carter −6.0%
AI illustrationReal wages
Are paychecks really beating prices?
Your raise means nothing if prices rose faster. This is median full-time pay after inflation since 1979, and it embarrasses both parties.
- median weekly pay, 1982-84 $ · September 2026
- $370
- vs. a year ago
- −1.6%
- Record high · June 2020
- $393
- Record low · September 1981
- $309
The whole story, month by month
Democrats vs. Republicans
Democrats+0.1%per year in office, over 22 years and 4 presidencies
Republicans+0.3%per year in office, over 26 years and 5 presidencies
Both sides have a chart to wave
The Republicans' best card
Trump I +7.7%
From $349 to $376, December 2016 to December 2020.
The chart they hide: G.H.W. Bush −3.7%
Every president, ranked
Percent change during each term. Best to worst.
- Trump I+7.7%
- Clinton+7.1%
- Reagan+2.9%
- Obama+2.6%
- G.W. Bush+1.8%
- Biden−0.5%
- Trump II (so far)−1.1%
- G.H.W. Bush−3.7%
- Carter−6.0%
Why this number starts fights
This is the kitchen-table test: pay after inflation for the typical full-time worker. Watch out for 2020. The median jumped because many lower-paid workers lost their jobs and dropped out of the count, not because anyone got a big raise. Later declines partly reflect those workers coming back, plus inflation.
How to read it without getting played
No president controls this number alone. Congress, the Federal Reserve, global markets, wars, pandemics and the economy they inherited all move it. A term's score shows what happened on their watch, not what they caused. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling a side.
Method: percent change from the month a president took office to the month the term ended. The party figure is the annualized rate across all its years in office.
More numbers people fight about
Show the yearly table
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $370 |
| 2025 | $376 |
| 2024 | $374 |
| 2023 | $369 |
| 2022 | $362 |
| 2021 | $361 |
| 2020 | $376 |
| 2019 | $362 |
| 2018 | $355 |
| 2017 | $345 |
| 2016 | $349 |
| 2015 | $345 |
| 2014 | $336 |
| 2013 | $334 |
| 2012 | $333 |
| 2011 | $335 |
| 2010 | $341 |
| 2009 | $344 |
| 2008 | $340 |
| 2007 | $332 |
| 2006 | $337 |
| 2005 | $332 |
| 2004 | $337 |
| 2003 | $337 |
| 2002 | $336 |
| 2001 | $340 |
| 2000 | $334 |
| 1999 | $335 |
| 1998 | $328 |
| 1997 | $314 |
| 1996 | $313 |
| 1995 | $313 |
| 1994 | $314 |
| 1993 | $319 |
| 1992 | $312 |
| 1991 | $313 |
| 1990 | $312 |
| 1989 | $322 |
| 1988 | $324 |
| 1987 | $328 |
| 1986 | $331 |
| 1985 | $320 |
| 1984 | $316 |
| 1983 | $312 |
| 1982 | $313 |
| 1981 | $312 |
| 1980 | $315 |
| 1979 | $326 |