Key Takeaways
- Federal Reserve data shows 35-to-44-year-olds had a median annual household income of $86,473 in 2022.
- Narrowed down to each worker, the median annual income as of 2025 in the age group was $72,020.
- What you’re paid is mostly a function of the problems you can solve, how rare that skillset is in the market, and how well you can sell it, says Claudio Antonini, Finance Career Coach.
Income typically rises with age, peaks, then falls. An American’s typical wage peak, according to the Federal Reserve, is between ages 45 and 54. But 35-to-44-year-olds aren’t far behind.
How Much the Typical 35–44-Year-Old Earns
The Federal Reserve’s most recent survey (in 2022) shows that households headed by someone between 35 and 44 had a median income of $86,473. The Fed found that 45–54-year-olds earn the most, with a median of $91,878. Those ages 75 and older earn the least, with a median income of $49,073.
What You Do Matters More Than Your Age
Different jobs pay different salaries—that’s obvious. What isn’t, though, is exactly how much people are making, and who’s making the most. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks data on more than 800 occupations, grouped into professions like these:
| Profession | Median Earnings |
| Management, professional, and related occupations | $86,424 |
| Service occupations | $41,340 |
| Sales and office occupations | $52,416 |
| Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations | $58,136 |
| Production, transportation, and material moving occupations | $48,308 |
Want to see where you fall? Go to data.bls.gov/oesprofile, select your occupational group from the first dropdown, then your specific job title from the second. You’ll see the national median—plus what top and bottom earners make. You can filter by state and industry.
How To Raise Your Income
Claudio Antonini, a career coach, offers these tips for finding jobs with better salaries:
- Find business problems you’re really good at solving. “Then quantify your impact in plain English: I saved X, I drove Y, I reduced Z,” Antonini says.
- Find your niche. You’re more than a “finance professional” or some other job title. “The person who does X for Y companies in Z situation gets paid,” Antonini says.
- Learn to sell. “Most high earners aren’t the smartest in the room; they’re the clearest,” Antonini says. “They can pitch their value, build advocates, and create opportunities.”
- Be smart about your education. “MBAs can have a negative ROI once you include fees and lost earnings,” Antonini says. “And the CFA is essential for some paths, but it’s not income insurance.”
In sum, avoid “collecting qualifications to feel safe, staying a generalist too long, and waiting to be noticed instead of proactively building a niche and a narrative,” Antonini says.
Here are some tips for negotiating your salary:
- “Treat negotiation like a business pitch, not a personal plea,” Antonini says. Present your manager with three to five specific examples of value you’ve created—it could be revenue, cost savings, risk reduction, speed, quality, etc. Take the list and “translate them into outcomes the employer cares about,” he says.
- Come with a clear salary range. Antonini suggests saying, “Based on scope and market, I’m targeting…” “Then make it collaborative,” he adds, asking what it would take for you to reach a specific salary level.
- If your base salary is set, try to “negotiate the full package,” Antonini says. Consider the sign-on bonus, title, level, and other terms.
Finally, “don’t give a number too early if you can avoid it,” Antonini says. “Once you make your ask, stop talking.”