Published wage data has no entry-level figure. The 10th percentile is the lowest-paid tenth of everyone in the occupation, which includes long-tenured people in low-paying industries and regions as well as new starters. A realistic entry figure usually sits between the 10th and 25th percentile for your own metro area, and postings for junior roles are a better guide than the bottom of the national range.
The tenth percentile is the closest thing to a starting figure
The published tables carry no experience breakdown, so there is no official entry-level number. The tenth percentile is the usable proxy, with a caveat: it mixes genuine beginners with part-time-equivalent workers and people in low-paying regions.
That makes it a floor rather than a starting salary. Read it as “very few people in this occupation earn less than this”, which is a useful thing to know when judging an offer.
How far entry sits below the middle
Across occupations with fifty thousand or more workers, the tenth percentile sits at about 68 per cent of the median. So a typical occupation’s floor is roughly two-thirds of what the middle earns.
The variation around that is the interesting part, and it is enormous.
Where the gap is huge
Physicians in the residual category have a tenth percentile of $69,170 against a median of $265,930 — entry is 26 per cent of the middle. Internal medicine physicians 29 per cent. Family medicine 31 per cent. Chief executives 35 per cent. Airline pilots 46 per cent, entering at $106,710 against a $232,140 median.
In those occupations the early years are genuinely a different job financially. Residency, first officer hours, the climb to a real executive role — the entry figure describes a stage rather than a career.
Where there is almost no gap at all
Farmworkers enter at $32,900 against a $35,660 median — 92 per cent. Orderlies 84 per cent. Slaughterers and meat packers 83. Food processing workers 81.
That is the honest news for anybody in those occupations: the first year pays close to what the tenth year pays. Staying does not raise your pay much, so if pay is the goal the move is out of the occupation rather than up within it.
What the ratio actually tells you
How much of your future earning is inside this job rather than outside it. A low entry-to-median ratio means the occupation pays for time served and expertise gained. A high one means it pays for the work, and the work is the same in year ten.
That single number is a better guide to whether to stay than any growth projection, and it takes one division to compute.
Judging an actual offer
Use your metro rather than the nation — the national tenth percentile for an occupation can be above the local median in a cheap area and far below it in an expensive one.
For a genuine first job, an offer near the local tenth percentile is normal and not an insult. For somebody with several years of relevant experience, an offer near the tenth is a signal worth asking about directly, because it suggests the employer is pricing the role rather than the person.
Why the floor moves less than the middle
Entry pay is anchored by minimum wage rules, by what competitors advertise publicly, and by the fact that entry roles are the most substitutable. Employers have the least reason to differentiate at the bottom of a range.
Which means an entry figure is usually the most reliable part of a wage table and the least negotiable part of an offer. The negotiation happens later, and in a wide occupation it is worth a great deal.
The realistic first-three-years question
Not “what is the starting salary” but “how fast does somebody move from the tenth percentile toward the median”. The tables cannot answer that directly, and advertised ranges for roles one level up are the best available substitute.
Compare a graduate posting against a posting for the same work with three years required. That gap, in your metro, is the closest thing to a published early-career trajectory that exists.
Common questions
Is the 10th percentile the starting salary?
No. It is the lowest-paid tenth of everyone in the occupation, including long-tenured people in low-paying industries and regions. It is a national floor, not a description of a first job.
How should I estimate entry-level pay?
Use the 10th to 25th percentile band for your own metro area as a floor, treat current job postings for junior roles as a ceiling, and expect the real figure between them.
Should I cite salary data in a first negotiation?
Yes, but cite the local band and the median rather than the bottom of the national range. Quoting the floor hands over a number below what they were likely to offer.
Does the industry I start in really matter that much?
Yes. The industry effect is as large at entry level as anywhere else in the distribution, and it is far harder to change later than it is to choose now.
Why do postings look higher than the data?
Postings advertise to attract applicants and often quote the upper end of a range. The survey reports what is actually paid across everyone, including people hired years ago.
What is entry-level pay for an occupation?
There is no official figure. The tenth percentile is the usable proxy — a floor rather than a starting salary, since it mixes beginners with part-time and low-paying regions.
How far below the median is entry?
About 68 per cent of the median in a typical occupation — but 26 per cent for physicians and 92 per cent for farmworkers.
What does a high entry-to-median ratio mean?
That the occupation pays for the work rather than for time served. The first year pays close to the tenth, so progression means changing occupation.