<p>Based on the 2010 US Census, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Distribution_of_Household_Income" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> has pretty much exactly what you seem to be looking for.</p>

<p>A sample graph:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vsujP.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>though they of course also have tables and links to more data.</p>

<p>Or if you prefer raw data, the <a href="http://www.irs.gov/uac/SOI-Tax-Stats---Individual-Statistical-Tables-by-Size-of-Adjusted-Gross-Income" rel="nofollow noreferrer">IRS SOI</a> is available for 1996-2012.</p>

<p>And of course there's <a href="http://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/pikettyqje.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Piketty and Saez seminal paper on the subject</a> (See Table 5 for their data analogous to the included Wikipedia picture)</p>

<p>And of course there's the BLS which publishes these things regularly by <a href="http://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings.htm#demographics" rel="nofollow noreferrer">demographic</a>, <a href="http://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings.htm#hourly" rel="nofollow noreferrer">hourly only</a>, or <a href="http://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings.htm#occind" rel="nofollow noreferrer">occupation/industry</a>. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:40:37.770Z
It could be that the OP is looking for wages rather than income (like, hourly wages versus total yearly income earned).
jmbejara
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:41:31.993Z
could be, though would one not normally just divide by 2000 for US data?
Jason Nichols
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:43:42.897Z
No, because you don't know how many hours each individual worked (not average hours worked, I mean how many hours each individual worked). The question is important if you want to know something akin to the distribution of skill---or at least earning power---in the population.
jmbejara
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:45:35.743Z
that's problematic because high skill workers in the US are almost often (if not predominantly) salaried. Though you might be able to use the BLS data I just added for some of that.
Jason Nichols
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:47:15.767Z
Cool. Thanks. Yeah, problematic to find/estimate the figures, but still important to know. (I'm thinking about Mirrlees optimal taxation again.)
jmbejara
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:49:57.597Z
@jmbejara http://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t05.htm is as close as I think you could get, and you'd have to assume equiavlent weeks on average.
Jason Nichols
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:30:26.957Z
2014-12-04T19:44:37.613Z
2014-12-04T19:44:37.613Z
Jason Nichols
<p>Is there any paper that looks at the distribution of wages? I'd like to see how many workers are in each percentile of labor income. I know that you could compute it using CPS or US tax data, but I suppose somebody must have done that before..</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:37:50.693Z
1% of workers are in each percentile kinda by definition, no? :)
Jason Nichols
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:43:56.707Z
Well, I stated it completely (but consistently) the wrong way. I phrased the percentiles as labor income :/
FooBar
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:45:47.697Z
Do you want to know total income earned (yearly) or do you want to know the distribution of earning power (like, distribution of hourly wages---or hours worked in combination with income)? Could you clarify?
jmbejara
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T19:58:09.267Z
The former is sufficient. However, I guess the latter is more informative, so more information always beats less information (also for future visitors of this question).
FooBar
<macroeconomics><labor-economics><reference-request>
Distribution of Wages
FooBar
# Distribution of Wages

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-04)

Is there any paper that looks at the distribution of wages? I'd like to see how many workers are in each percentile of labor income. I know that you could compute it using CPS or US tax data, but I suppose somebody must have done that before..

**Tags:** macroeconomics, labor-economics, reference-request
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 1% of workers are in each percentile kinda by definition, no? :)  
> **username_0**: Well, I stated it completely (but consistently) the wrong way. I phrased the percentiles as labor income :/  
> **username_2**: Do you want to know total income earned (yearly) or do you want to know the distribution of earning power (like, distribution of hourly wages---or hours worked in combination with income)? Could you clarify?  
> **username_0**: The former is sufficient. However, I guess the latter is more informative, so more information always beats less information (also for future visitors of this question).  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-12-04. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Based on the 2010 US Census, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Distribution_of_Household_Income) has pretty much exactly what you seem to be looking for.

A sample graph:

![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/vsujP.png)

though they of course also have tables and links to more data.

Or if you prefer raw data, the [IRS SOI](http://www.irs.gov/uac/SOI-Tax-Stats---Individual-Statistical-Tables-by-Size-of-Adjusted-Gross-Income) is available for 1996-2012.

And of course there's [Piketty and Saez seminal paper on the subject](http://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/pikettyqje.pdf) (See Table 5 for their data analogous to the included Wikipedia picture)

And of course there's the BLS which publishes these things regularly by [demographic](http://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings.htm#demographics), [hourly only](http://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings.htm#hourly), or [occupation/industry](http://www.bls.gov/cps/earnings.htm#occind).

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: It could be that the OP is looking for wages rather than income (like, hourly wages versus total yearly income earned).  
> **username_1**: could be, though would one not normally just divide by 2000 for US data?  
> **username_2**: No, because you don't know how many hours each individual worked (not average hours worked, I mean how many hours each individual worked). The question is important if you want to know something akin to the distribution of skill---or at least earning power---in the population.  
> **username_1**: that's problematic because high skill workers in the US are almost often (if not predominantly) salaried. Though you might be able to use the BLS data I just added for some of that.  
> **username_2**: Cool. Thanks. Yeah, problematic to find/estimate the figures, but still important to know. (I'm thinking about Mirrlees optimal taxation again.)  
> **username_1**: @jmbejara http://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t05.htm is as close as I think you could get, and you'd have to assume equiavlent weeks on average.  

---

