Bonus season on Wall Street runs through March, and based on estimates released Wednesday morning, it has been a lucrative start to spring for the more than 200,000 people working for New York City-based securities firms.
Their total bonus pool hit a record $47.5 billion, up 34% from last year, according to the office of New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The average bonus paid to employees also hit a record high, at $244,700, up 31.5% from the year before.
The big bonus payouts follow a 90% jump in Wall Street profits last year, DiNapoli said in a statement. “The record high bonus pool reflects Wall Street’s very strong performance in 2024. This financial market strength is good news for New York’s economy and our fiscal position, which relies on the tax revenue it generates.”
The record highs are based on nominal dollars. When adjusted for inflation, the year 2006 still takes the cake. That year, the bonus pool totaled $34.3 billion, and the average bonus paid was $191,400. That would be worth more than $307,000 in 2025 dollars, according to the inflation calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Record or not, the average Wall Street bonus still handily tops median US household income. This year it came in three times higher than the $80,610 in median household earnings reported by the US Census for 2023.
DiNapoli’s estimates are based on tax withholding trends on cash bonuses paid for work performed in 2024 plus any deferred bonuses from prior years that were cashed in last year. Notably, however, they do not include stock options or other forms of deferred compensation people may have received, for which no taxes have yet been withheld.