Research
The Accounting Salary Database 2026: Pay by State, Metro, Role, and Experience
A verified compensation reference for accountants, auditors, and adjacent finance roles, built from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics primary data. Every figure carries its exact reference period and geography. Where the most recent national wage release (May 2024) is published only as headline figures and the full detail tables were not machine-accessible, the underlying percentile, state, and metro distributions are drawn from the latest fully retrievable BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) release (May 2023) and are labeled accordingly. No figure on this page is estimated, projected, or fabricated.
Occupation in scope: Accountants and Auditors, Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code 13-2011. Related occupations (financial managers; bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks) are reported separately and labeled.
Executive summary
- The median annual wage for accountants and auditors was $81,680 in May 2024, nationally (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS).
- The lowest-paid 10 percent earned less than $52,780 and the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $141,420 in May 2024, nationally (BLS OEWS).
- The national mean (average) annual wage was $90,780 in May 2023, against a median of $79,880 the same year, confirming a right-skewed distribution where high earners pull the average above the midpoint (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- New York posted the highest state-level mean annual wage among the largest-employing states at $113,310 in May 2023; California led on raw headcount with 166,020 accountants and auditors (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA was the highest-paying large metro at a $124,070 annual mean wage in May 2023, ahead of New York-Newark-Jersey City at $119,050 (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- By industry, finance and insurance paid accountants and auditors the most among major employers at a median of $87,980 in May 2024, versus $80,510 in accounting and tax-preparation firms (BLS OOH, May 2024 wage data).
- Financial managers, a common promotion target, had a median annual wage of $161,700 in May 2024, roughly double the accountant median; bookkeeping clerks had a median of $49,210 (BLS OOH, May 2024).
- After adjusting May 2023 state mean wages by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC) Q1 2026 cost-of-living index, lower-cost states such as Texas convert nominal pay into materially higher real purchasing power than high-cost coastal states (derived; see Original synthesis).
Key findings
- The median annual wage for accountants and auditors was $81,680 in May 2024 in the United States (BLS OEWS).
- The mean annual wage was $90,780 in May 2023 in the United States, $10,900 above that year’s median of $79,880, indicating a long upper tail (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- National employment was 1,435,770 accountants and auditors in May 2023; the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook reported roughly 1.6 million jobs as of 2023 under its broader employment concept (BLS OEWS / OOH).
- The 10th-to-90th percentile annual wage spread was $50,440 to $137,280 in May 2023, a 2.7x ratio between the bottom and top deciles (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- The 25th-to-75th percentile (interquartile) annual wage range was $62,720 to $103,990 in May 2023, nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- New York’s mean annual wage for accountants and auditors was $113,310 in May 2023, the highest among the five largest-employing states (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- California employed 166,020 accountants and auditors in May 2023, the most of any state, at a mean annual wage of $100,560 (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA paid the highest large-metro mean annual wage at $124,070 in May 2023 (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro had the highest location quotient among top-paying metros at 1.54 in May 2023, meaning accountants are roughly 54 percent more concentrated there than the national average (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- In finance and insurance, the median wage for accountants and auditors was $87,980 in May 2024, the top-paying major industry (BLS OOH, May 2024).
- In accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services (the largest employer, about 23 percent of jobs), the median was $80,510 in May 2024 (BLS OOH, May 2024).
- Top-paying niche industries in May 2023 included magnetic and optical media manufacturing ($133,140 mean) and web search portals and information services ($132,450 mean), reflecting accountants embedded in high-margin tech and media firms (BLS OEWS, May 2023).
- Employment of accountants and auditors is projected to grow 5 percent from 2024 to 2034, with about 124,200 openings projected per year on average over the decade (BLS OOH, current 2024-2034 projection).
- Financial managers had a median annual wage of $161,700 in May 2024, and bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a median of $49,210 in May 2024 (BLS OOH).
- The Missouri Economic Research and Information Center cost-of-living index ranged from 83.5 (Oklahoma) to 184.8 (Hawaii) in Q1 2026, a spread that materially reshapes how nominal accounting salaries translate into real purchasing power (MERIC, Q1 2026).
Section 1: National wages for accountants and auditors
The national wage distribution for accountants and auditors is right-skewed: the mean sits above the median because a minority of high earners (controllers, senior auditors at large firms, accountants in finance and tech) pull the average up. The most recent BLS headline figures are for May 2024; the most recent fully retrievable detailed percentile table is May 2023.
National headline wages, May 2024 (BLS OEWS / OOH)
| Metric | Value (May 2024) |
|---|---|
| Median annual wage | $81,680 |
| Median hourly wage | $39.27 |
| 10th percentile (annual) | less than $52,780 |
| 90th percentile (annual) | more than $141,420 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook / Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024.
Full national percentile table, May 2023 (BLS OEWS)
This is the most recent complete percentile and mean table that was machine-verifiable from the BLS archive. It is retained because the full May 2024 OEWS detail tables on bls.gov were not accessible to automated retrieval (HTTP 403).
| Measure | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $24.25 | $50,440 |
| 25th percentile | $30.15 | $62,720 |
| 50th percentile (median) | $38.41 | $79,880 |
| 75th percentile | $49.99 | $103,990 |
| 90th percentile | $66.00 | $137,280 |
| Mean (average) | $43.65 | $90,780 |
National employment: 1,435,770 (employment relative standard error 0.4 percent; wage RSE 0.3 percent).
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2023.
The May 2024 median ($81,680) is $1,800 above the May 2023 median ($79,880), a 2.3 percent year-over-year increase in the midpoint wage.
Section 2: Wages by state
State-level mean wages below are from the May 2023 OEWS release, the latest state detail that was machine-verifiable. The figures are for the five states with the highest accountant and auditor employment. The full 50-state May 2024 detail table is published by BLS but was not accessible to automated retrieval; see Methodology and the framework note in Section 3.
Largest-employing states, May 2023 (BLS OEWS)
| State | Employment | Employment per 1,000 jobs | Location quotient | Hourly mean | Annual mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 166,020 | 9.25 | 0.98 | $48.35 | $100,560 |
| New York | 119,150 | 12.69 | 1.34 | $54.48 | $113,310 |
| Texas | 111,160 | 8.20 | 0.87 | $42.70 | $88,820 |
| Florida | 89,350 | 9.34 | 0.99 | $40.11 | $83,430 |
| Pennsylvania | 54,540 | 9.17 | 0.97 | $40.27 | $83,760 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2023.
New York’s location quotient of 1.34 means accountants and auditors are about 34 percent more concentrated in New York’s workforce than nationally, consistent with the state’s large financial-services sector. New York’s mean wage ($113,310) exceeds California’s ($100,560) despite California’s larger headcount.
Section 3: Wages by metropolitan area
Metro wages below are from the May 2023 OEWS release using current BLS metro definitions. The full May 2024 metro detail table was not machine-accessible (HTTP 403 from bls.gov). The 10-metro list is the verified top-paying set as published; the per-metro structure for any additional metro should be sourced directly from the BLS May 2024 OEWS metropolitan tables (see framework note).
Top-paying metropolitan areas, May 2023 (BLS OEWS)
| Rank | Metropolitan area | Employment | Location quotient | Hourly mean | Annual mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 12,870 | 1.19 | $59.65 | $124,070 |
| 2 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 127,360 | 1.42 | $57.23 | $119,050 |
| 3 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 24,910 | 1.09 | $56.70 | $117,930 |
| 4 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 45,080 | 1.54 | $50.41 | $104,850 |
| 5 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 23,900 | 1.22 | $49.06 | $102,050 |
| 6 | Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH | 34,950 | 1.34 | $48.61 | $101,120 |
| 7 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 14,910 | 1.20 | $48.09 | $100,030 |
| 8 | Trenton, NJ | 2,870 | 1.27 | $48.08 | $100,010 |
| 9 | Santa Rosa, CA | 1,760 | 0.90 | $47.99 | $99,820 |
| 10 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 13,180 | 0.92 | $47.47 | $98,740 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2023.
Largest-employing metropolitan areas, May 2023 (BLS OEWS)
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Location quotient | Annual mean |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 127,360 | 1.42 | $119,050 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 63,940 | 1.09 | $96,620 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 45,080 | 1.54 | $104,850 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 41,820 | 0.98 | $89,490 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 39,500 | 1.05 | $90,130 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2023.
Framework note (per-metro structure, not fabricated numbers): BLS OEWS publishes, for each of roughly 380 metropolitan areas, the same fields for SOC 13-2011: employment, employment per 1,000 jobs, location quotient, hourly mean, annual mean, and the 10th/25th/50th/75th/90th percentile hourly and annual wages. Because the May 2024 metro detail tables were not retrievable by automated tools for this build, any metro not listed above should be populated directly from bls.gov/oes/current/oes132011.htm (Geographic profile) or the downloadable May 2024 metropolitan data files. Do not infer a metro wage from state or national figures; OEWS metro estimates are independently surveyed.
Section 4: Wages by industry and specialty
Accountants and auditors are not a monolithic role. Pay varies by employer industry, which is the closest verifiable proxy for specialty (public accounting, corporate, government, financial services).
Median annual wages by top industry, May 2024 (BLS OOH)
| Industry | Median annual wage (May 2024) |
|---|---|
| Finance and insurance | $87,980 |
| Management of companies and enterprises | $86,010 |
| Government | $81,120 |
| Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services | $80,510 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2024 wage data.
Employment share by sector (BLS OOH): accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services about 23 percent; finance and insurance about 8 percent; government about 8 percent; management of companies and enterprises about 6 percent; self-employed about 4 percent.
Highest-paying niche industries, May 2023 (BLS OEWS)
| Industry | Annual mean wage (May 2023) |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing and reproducing magnetic and optical media | $133,140 |
| Web search portals, libraries, archives, and other information services | $132,450 |
| Software publishers | $126,250 |
| Media streaming, social networks, and other content providers | $122,720 |
| Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing | $118,090 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2023.
These niche industries employ small numbers of accountants but pay 30 to 47 percent above the national mean, reflecting accountants embedded in high-margin technology and media companies.
Largest-employing industries and their mean wages, May 2023 (BLS OEWS)
| Industry | Employment | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services | 349,320 | $93,060 |
| Management of companies and enterprises | 106,420 | $93,580 |
| Local government, excluding schools and hospitals | 47,580 | $79,220 |
| Real estate | 44,950 | $87,480 |
| Management, scientific, and technical consulting services | 43,020 | $98,970 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2023.
Section 5: Related and adjacent roles (experience and career-path proxy)
BLS OEWS does not publish wages by years of experience for SOC 13-2011. The verifiable proxy for the experience and seniority gradient is the wage ladder across adjacent occupations and the within-occupation percentile spread. Entry-level pay tracks the 10th-25th percentile band; senior corporate accountants and controllers track the 75th-90th band; the financial-manager occupation captures the post-promotion tier.
| Occupation (SOC) | Median annual wage | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (43-3031) | $49,210 | May 2024 | BLS OOH |
| Accountants and auditors (13-2011) | $81,680 | May 2024 | BLS OOH |
| Accountants and auditors, 90th percentile (13-2011) | more than $141,420 | May 2024 | BLS OEWS |
| Financial managers (11-3031) | $161,700 | May 2024 | BLS OOH |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook / OEWS, May 2024.
Read as a career arc, the verifiable national data show a clerk-to-financial-manager median spread of $49,210 to $161,700, with the accountant median ($81,680) and the accountant 90th percentile ($141,420) marking the intermediate rungs.
On experience-banded and CPA-credential figures: Sources such as the Robert Half Salary Guide and AICPA publish salary bands by years of experience, firm size, and credential (Tier 2). Those figures were not independently verifiable against a primary dataset at the time of this build and are therefore excluded rather than reproduced. If used downstream, they must be labeled Tier 2 with the exact guide year, and they are not comparable to BLS OEWS because of different survey universes and definitions.
Section 6: Outlook context
Employment of accountants and auditors is projected to grow 5 percent from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 124,200 openings projected each year on average over the decade (BLS OOH, current 2024-2034 projection). The prior projection vintage stated 6 percent growth and about 130,800 annual openings for 2023-2033 (BLS OOH, 2023-2033). Both are projections, not current wage figures, and are included only for demand context.
Original synthesis (derived insights)
All derived figures below are computed by The Ledgerism Brief from the verified inputs cited. Inputs and limitations are stated for each.
Insight 1: Wage-dispersion ratio (how unequal accountant pay is)
- Formula: 90th percentile annual wage divided by 10th percentile annual wage.
- Inputs (BLS OEWS, May 2023): 90th percentile $137,280; 10th percentile $50,440.
- Result: 137,280 / 50,440 = 2.72x. The top decile of accountants earns at least 2.72 times the bottom decile.
- Interquartile ratio (75th / 25th): 103,990 / 62,720 = 1.66x.
- Limitation: based on May 2023 percentiles (latest full table verifiable). The May 2024 headline 10th-90th band ($52,780 to $141,420) implies a similar 2.68x ratio, confirming stability.
Insight 2: Cost-of-living-adjusted state wage ranking (real purchasing power)
- Formula: COL-adjusted mean wage = (state nominal mean annual wage) / (state MERIC cost-of-living index / 100). A higher adjusted value means greater real purchasing power.
- Inputs: state nominal mean annual wages (BLS OEWS, May 2023, five largest-employing states); state cost-of-living index (MERIC, Q1 2026; US average = 100).
- Note on period mismatch: wages are May 2023, COL index is Q1 2026. This is a directional real-wage comparison, not a precise same-period calculation. It is labeled accordingly.
| State | Nominal mean (May 2023) | MERIC COL index (Q1 2026) | COL-adjusted mean | Real-wage rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | $88,820 | 92.3* | ~$96,230 | 1 |
| New York | $113,310 | 124.7 | ~$90,866 | 2 |
| Pennsylvania | $83,760 | 94.6* | ~$88,541 | 3 |
| Florida | $83,430 | 100.5* | ~$83,015 | 4 |
| California | $100,560 | 140.5 | ~$71,573 | 5 |
*Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida MERIC index values are the most recent published quarterly values for those states; New York (124.7) and California (140.5) are confirmed Q1 2026 values from the MERIC release fetched for this build. Where a state’s exact Q1 2026 index was not separately confirmed in this build, it is marked with an asterisk and should be re-verified against the live MERIC table before republication.
- Headline result: New York’s nominal-wage lead over Texas (a 28 percent gap, $113,310 vs $88,820) reverses after cost adjustment; Texas delivers the highest real purchasing power of the five largest-employing states, and California’s high nominal mean ($100,560) ranks last in real terms because of a 140.5 cost index.
- Limitation: uses only the five largest-employing states (the state means that were primary-source verifiable). A full 50-state COL-adjusted ranking requires the May 2024 OEWS state detail table, which was not machine-accessible for this build.
Insight 3: Industry premium over the public-accounting baseline
- Formula: (industry median – accounting/tax/bookkeeping firm median) / accounting/tax/bookkeeping firm median, using the May 2024 OOH industry medians, with the largest-employing industry (public accounting firms) as the baseline.
- Inputs (BLS OOH, May 2024): finance and insurance $87,980; management of companies $86,010; government $81,120; accounting/tax/bookkeeping firms $80,510 (baseline).
- Results: finance and insurance pays a +9.3 percent premium over public-accounting firms; management of companies +6.8 percent; government +0.8 percent.
- Interpretation: moving from a public-accounting firm into a corporate finance-and-insurance role is associated with the largest verifiable median pay step among the major employers.
- Limitation: industry medians, not experience-controlled; the OOH does not publish percentile detail by industry.
Tables: consolidated reference
A. National wage trend (median)
| Period | Median annual wage | Source |
|---|---|---|
| May 2023 | $79,880 | BLS OEWS |
| May 2024 | $81,680 | BLS OEWS / OOH |
Year-over-year change in median: +2.3 percent.
B. National distribution at a glance (May 2023, BLS OEWS)
| Percentile | Annual wage |
|---|---|
| 10th | $50,440 |
| 25th | $62,720 |
| 50th | $79,880 |
| 75th | $103,990 |
| 90th | $137,280 |
| Mean | $90,780 |
Charts to create
- National wage distribution curve (May 2023). Data: 10th/25th/50th/75th/90th annual wages plus mean. Source: BLS OEWS May 2023. Insight: visualizes the right skew (mean above median). Citation-worthy because it shows the full percentile spread in one image, which most salary pages omit.
- Top-paying metros bar chart (May 2023). Data: the 10 metro annual means in Section 3. Source: BLS OEWS May 2023. Insight: San Jose and New York lead; useful for relocation decisions. Citation-worthy as a ranked, sourced visual.
- Nominal vs cost-of-living-adjusted state wages (derived). Data: Insight 2 table. Sources: BLS OEWS May 2023 + MERIC Q1 2026. Insight: the rank reversal between New York/California and Texas. Citation-worthy because real-wage reframing is rare and discussion-driving.
- Career wage ladder (May 2024). Data: clerk $49,210 to financial manager $161,700, with accountant median and 90th percentile. Source: BLS OOH May 2024. Insight: quantifies the seniority gradient. Citation-worthy as a one-glance career-earnings arc.
- Industry premium chart (May 2024). Data: Insight 3 percentages. Source: BLS OOH May 2024. Insight: finance-and-insurance premium over public accounting. Citation-worthy for the corporate-vs-firm pay debate.
Methodology
- Source selection. Tier-1 government primary data was prioritized: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for SOC 13-2011, BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), and the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC) cost-of-living index. Secondary aggregators were used only to locate primary figures, never as the figure of record.
- Reference periods. National headline wages are May 2024 (the most recent BLS OEWS release reflected in the OOH). The full percentile, state, metro, and industry detail tables are May 2023, the most recent complete OEWS detail that was machine-verifiable for this build. COL index values are MERIC Q1 2026. Every table states its period.
- Access limitation. All bls.gov pages and data files returned HTTP 403 to the automated fetch and download tools available for this build. The verified BLS figures were obtained from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (via search-surfaced primary text and an archived BLS page snapshot dated June 2025 reflecting May 2024 wage data) and from an archived BLS OEWS national detail page (snapshot dated March 2025, reflecting the May 2023 release). Archived BLS pages reproduce BLS’s own published tables verbatim.
- Handling conflicting numbers. A secondary aggregator presented “May 2025” figures (median $84,578, employment 970,460, a 10th-90th band of $78,440 to $196,890). Those values are internally inconsistent with BLS structure (employment far below the BLS 1.4 million-plus count; an implausibly high lower bound) and were excluded. DataUSA figures (average $100,054; 1,714,965 workers, 2024) derive from Census American Community Survey microdata, a different survey universe than OEWS, and are not mixed into the OEWS tables.
- Derived figures. The three original insights are computed only from the cited verified inputs, with formulas shown inline. The COL-adjusted ranking carries an explicit period-mismatch caveat (May 2023 wages vs Q1 2026 COL index) and is presented as directional.
- Exclusions. Robert Half and AICPA experience- and credential-banded salary figures were not reproduced because they could not be verified against a primary dataset for this build; the structure for using them (Tier 2, labeled, non-comparable to OEWS) is documented in Section 5.
- Last updated: 2026-06-30.
Source quality ranking
Tier 1 (primary government / official datasets):
– U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), SOC 13-2011 (national, state, metro, industry detail). May 2023 detail and May 2024 headline.
– U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors (May 2024 wage data; employment and projection figures).
– BLS OEWS / OOH for related occupations: Financial Managers (11-3031); Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (43-3031). May 2024.
– Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), Cost of Living Data Series, Q1 2026 (state cost-of-living index; US average = 100).
Tier 2 (credible secondary, used only to locate primary figures, not as figure of record):
– DataUSA (Census ACS-derived occupation profile) – reported separately, not merged.
Excluded:
– One “May 2025” salary aggregator (figures internally inconsistent with BLS employment and percentile structure).
– USAWage.com state/metro tables (used retired pre-2015 metro definitions such as “New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island” and “Trenton-Ewing,” indicating stale underlying data despite a recent date label).
– Robert Half / AICPA experience and credential bands (not verifiable against a primary dataset for this build).
Citation format (per major statistic)
- National median wage:
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024. - National percentile and mean detail:
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2023. - Industry medians and projections:
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors, May 2024. - State and metro detail:
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, Accountants and Auditors (13-2011), May 2023. - Cost-of-living index:
Source: Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, Cost of Living Data Series, Q1 2026.
Journalist-friendly additions
Most quotable statistics
- The median accountant and auditor earned $81,680 a year in May 2024 (BLS).
- The top 10 percent of accountants earned more than $141,420 in May 2024; the bottom 10 percent earned less than $52,780 (BLS).
- San Jose paid accountants the most of any large U.S. metro, a $124,070 average in May 2023 (BLS).
- Finance and insurance pays accountants 9 percent more than public-accounting firms ($87,980 vs $80,510 median, May 2024; Ledgerism analysis of BLS data).
- After cost of living, Texas beats New York and California on real accountant pay (Ledgerism analysis of BLS May 2023 wages and MERIC Q1 2026 index).
Data limitations
- Full May 2024 OEWS state and metro detail tables were not machine-accessible for this build; state and metro figures are verified May 2023 OEWS and labeled.
- OEWS does not publish wages by years of experience; the experience gradient here is proxied by occupation ladder and percentile spread.
- The cost-of-living-adjusted ranking mixes May 2023 wages with Q1 2026 cost indices and is directional, not same-period precise.
Downloadable dataset: recommended fields (for a CSV / Dataset schema)
soc_code, occupation_title, geography_type (national/state/metro), geography_name, reference_period, employment, employment_per_1000, location_quotient, hourly_mean, annual_mean, pct10_annual, pct25_annual, pct50_annual, pct75_annual, pct90_annual, industry (optional), source, source_url, col_index, col_index_period, col_adjusted_annual_mean, notes
Press summary (about 150 words)
The Accounting Salary Database 2026 compiles verified federal compensation data for accountants and auditors (SOC 13-2011). The median U.S. accountant earned $81,680 in May 2024, with the top 10 percent above $141,420 and the bottom 10 percent below $52,780, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Pay is geographically concentrated: San Jose led major metros at a $124,070 average and New York led large states at $113,310 (May 2023 BLS detail). Industry matters as much as geography. Finance and insurance pays a median of $87,980, about 9 percent more than public-accounting firms at $80,510 (May 2024). The database adds an original cost-of-living-adjusted ranking showing that Texas converts a lower nominal wage into higher real purchasing power than New York or California. It documents its access limitations transparently: full May 2024 state and metro tables were not machine-retrievable, so those layers use verified May 2023 BLS detail, clearly labeled.
Suggested headlines
- The Median U.S. Accountant Made $81,680 in 2024. The Top 10 Percent Cleared $141,420.
- Where Accountants Earn the Most: San Jose Tops $124,000 as the Coasts Dominate Pay.
- Why Texas Beats New York on Real Accountant Pay Once You Adjust for Cost of Living.
- Finance Pays Accountants 9 Percent More Than Public-Accounting Firms, Federal Data Shows.
- From $49,000 Clerk to $161,700 Finance Manager: The Verified Accounting Pay Ladder.
FAQs
- What is the average accountant salary in the United States? The mean annual wage was $90,780 in May 2023; the median was $81,680 in May 2024 (BLS OEWS / OOH).
- What is the median accountant salary? $81,680 per year, May 2024 (BLS).
- What do entry-level accountants earn? The 10th percentile was less than $52,780 annually in May 2024, the closest verifiable proxy for entry-level pay (BLS).
- What do top accountants earn? The 90th percentile was more than $141,420 in May 2024 (BLS).
- Which state pays accountants the most? Among the largest-employing states, New York led at a $113,310 mean in May 2023 (BLS).
- Which metro pays accountants the most? San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, at a $124,070 mean in May 2023 (BLS).
- Which industry pays accountants the most? Among major employers, finance and insurance, at an $87,980 median in May 2024 (BLS OOH).
- How much more do financial managers earn? Their median was $161,700 in May 2024, roughly double the accountant median (BLS).
- What do bookkeeping and accounting clerks earn? A median of $49,210 in May 2024 (BLS).
- Is accounting a growing field? Employment is projected to grow 5 percent from 2024 to 2034, with about 124,200 openings per year (BLS OOH).
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), Accountants and Auditors (13-2011), national/state/metro/industry detail. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes132011.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. OEWS, Accountants and Auditors, May 2023 detail (archived snapshot reflecting the May 2023 release). https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes132011.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook, Financial Managers (11-3031). https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/financial-managers.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (43-3031). https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/bookkeeping-accounting-and-auditing-clerks.htm
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. OEWS Tables (program landing). https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm
- Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC). Cost of Living Data Series, Q1 2026. https://meric.mo.gov/data/cost-living-data-series
- DataUSA (Census ACS-derived occupation profile; reported separately as a non-OEWS dataset). https://datausa.io/profile/soc/accountants-auditors
Related research
More original, sourced datasets from The Ledgerism Brief:
- CPA Industry Report + Shortage Index — Workforce, salary, firms, and the CPA shortage.
- The State of Accounting 2026 — The U.S. accounting profession by the numbers.
- The Big Four Report — Revenue, headcount, and audit market share.
- AI in Accounting Report — Adoption rates and the Automation Index.
- FASB Standards Report — ASUs issued and adoption of major standards.
- SEC Restatement Report — Restatements by year, type, and cause.