Average Salary Increase Per Year: How It's Measured, and What 10 Years of Raises Adds Up To
Bureau of Labor Statistics wage-growth data year by year, plus a compounding table showing what a steady raise is worth over a career.
The Average Salary Increase Per Year, According to BLS Data
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Employment Cost Index (ECI) is the government's own measure of actual wage growth across the economy, distinct from the employer-budget survey numbers used elsewhere on this site. Check the latest ECI release for current year-over-year wage growth, and compare it with inflation over the same period to see whether pay is keeping up in real terms.
- The BLS ECI reports 12-month wage growth for private industry workers every quarter — the best measure of what was actually paid.
- This is a different measure than employer-budget survey averages (Mercer, WTW) covered in our raise-percentage guide — ECI tracks what was actually paid across the whole economy, not what companies planned to budget.
- Nominal raises can be largely absorbed by inflation — compare your raise with inflation over the same period to see your real gain.
- Because raises compound, even a modest steady raise rate produces a large gap over a career — a 3.5% raise every year for 20 years roughly doubles a starting salary.
Model your own raise — including the compounding effect over 10, 20, or more years — against your expected inflation rate.
Project your own raise over timeWage Growth vs. Inflation
The BLS publishes the Employment Cost Index (ECI) each quarter, with 12-month changes in wages and salaries for private industry workers, and the BLS Consumer Price Index measures inflation over the same periods. When wage growth runs below inflation, real wages fall even though the paycheck number goes up.
A nominal raise can still mean falling purchasing power if inflation runs higher over the same period. This is exactly the scenario the "is my raise keeping up with inflation" question is designed to catch: the paycheck number went up, purchasing power didn't.
What a Steady Raise Is Worth Over 5, 10, 20, and 30 Years
A single year's raise percentage tells you almost nothing about your long-run trajectory — what matters is how a raise rate compounds. Starting from a $60,000 salary, here's what different steady annual raise rates produce over time (all figures rounded to the nearest hundred):
| Annual Raise Rate | After 5 Years | After 10 Years | After 20 Years | After 30 Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0% | $69,600 | $80,600 | $108,400 | $145,600 |
| 3.5% | $71,300 | $84,600 | $119,400 | $168,400 |
| 5.0% | $76,600 | $97,700 | $159,200 | $259,300 |
The gap between 3% and 5% looks small in any single year — 2 percentage points — but compounds to a $113,700 difference in salary after 30 years, and a much larger gap in cumulative lifetime earnings once you add up every year in between. This is the mechanical reason career advice consistently emphasizes negotiating early and often: a raise that lands below average doesn't just cost you that year's difference, it lowers the base every future raise compounds from.
See this same compounding math applied to your actual salary and raise rate, with the after-tax and inflation-adjusted numbers included.
Run your own numbers- 1Employment Cost Index News Release — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average salary increase per year in the US?
The BLS Employment Cost Index publishes 12-month private-industry wage growth every quarter; check the latest release. It tracks actual wages paid across the economy, and differs from employer-budget survey figures, which put 2026 total increases at about 3.4-3.5% (Mercer, Payscale and The Conference Board, as reported by HR Dive).
Are wages keeping up with inflation in 2026?
Compare the latest BLS Employment Cost Index wage growth with CPI inflation over the same 12 months. When wage growth runs below inflation, real wages slip even as nominal pay keeps rising.
How much does a 3.5% raise add up to over 10 years?
Starting from a $60,000 salary, a steady 3.5% annual raise compounds to roughly $84,600 after 10 years. The compounding effect means the later years contribute more growth than the earlier ones, since each raise is calculated on an already-larger base.
What's the difference between ECI and salary budget survey data?
The Employment Cost Index (BLS) measures what employers actually paid across the whole economy, sampled directly from payroll records. Salary budget surveys (Mercer, WTW, WorldatWork) ask HR leaders what they plan to budget or actually spent on raises at their own companies. The two usually track closely but aren't identical measures.
Frequently asked questions
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Founder and developer of We Are Calculator. No lead selling, no lender rankings, no affiliate-pulled recommendations. Every guide pairs primary sources (IRS, CFPB, Federal Reserve, CRA) with the free calculators you can run yourself.
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