Economics jobs: what federal wage data say about four career tracks

Economics jobs divide into four main tracks, and federal wage data rank them with unusual clarity. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for economists at $124,720 in May 2025. That is nearly two and a half times the $50,980 median recorded across all occupations in the same federal series. The ranking shifts with the measure a candidate cares about most. Policy work inside the federal government paid economists a median of $144,680 in May 2025, the top figure among the industries the statisticians list. The data track shows the fastest projected growth at 35 percent over the decade. Each route also has a different entry door, from the master's degree most economists hold to the bachelor's degree listed for analysts and data scientists. This connects to our earlier piece, Where programmatic ad money actually goes before publishers get paid. What do economists earn in policy and consulting? The policy track holds the wage ceiling.

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