What are people doing in America for work and just how much are they making at those jobs? This chart, which looks at the distribution of Americans through different industries and their median salaries, answers that question.


The chart is the work of Nathan Yau over at Flowing Data, who used the new stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to create it. Things really get interesting, though, when you start looking at the data not just nationally, but by state.

Switching the chart over to Michigan's manufacturing-heavy economy yields a result that is, unsurprisingly, tilted towards transportation and material moving and production. It's also fairly similar to the chart that you see for the entire nation. Leaving the salary point set at a median of just over $50,000 (represented by the portions of the chart shown in green), which is also the national median, the jobs that hit that criteria are mostly centered in financial operations, engineering, and management.


Compare that with data from Washington, DC, where the most popular industries shift radically into financial operations and management and the chart looks noticeably different than the national one. The median salary of $50,000 also appears much more frequently scattered around the chart, reflecting the very different kinds of economies (and costs) you can find across the states.

What's going on in your industry? Do the charted number of jobs and median salaries match up with what you've seen? Tell us in the comments!