Households
Real median weekly earnings by president (1982–84 $)
Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, adjusted for inflation (CPI-U, 1982–84 dollars).
$378 latest, Q2 2026
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, via FRED LES1252881600Q. Quarterly data, fetched Oct 19, 2026.
Since 1980, real median weekly earnings ranged from $309 in Q3 1981 under Ronald Reagan to $393 in Q2 2020 under Donald Trump (1st term). Of the 7 completed terms with data, real median weekly earnings rose fastest under Donald Trump (1st term), at +$7/yr against +$4/yr in the four years before, and fell fastest under George H. W. Bush, at −$3/yr against +$2/yr in the four years before. So far under Donald Trump (2nd term), it has gone from $374 in Q4 2024 to $378 in Q2 2026.
By presidential term
Real median weekly earnings (1982–84 $), term by term: every term lined up from inauguration on one chart.
Value at the last full period before inauguration and at the end of the term, with the yearly rate of change. The second column is the rate of change over the four years before the term: the trend they inherited. Remember the lag: a term's first year mostly reflects the previous one's policies.
| President | During term | 4 years before |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Trump (2nd term) 2025–now | $374 → $378 +$3/yr · through Q2 2026 | −$1/yr |
| Joe Biden 2021–2025 | $376 → $374 −$1/yr | +$7/yr |
| Donald Trump (1st term) 2017–2021 | $349 → $376 +$7/yr | +$4/yr |
| Barack Obama 2009–2017 | $340 → $349 +$1/yr | +$1/yr |
| George W. Bush 2001–2009 | $334 → $340 +$1/yr | +$5/yr |
| Bill Clinton 1993–2001 | $312 → $334 +$3/yr | −$3/yr |
| George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 | $324 → $312 −$3/yr | +$2/yr |
| Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 | $315 → $324 +$1/yr | — |
| Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 | no data | no data |
More households indicators
Events that bear on this indicator
- Jan 1, 1994 TradeNAFTA takes effect. Free-trade area between the US, Canada and Mexico begins.