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Median: what it means

The middle value when all values are ordered from lowest to highest. Half are above and half below, so a few very large values cannot pull it up.

The median is the value in the middle of a list arranged in order. With an even number of values it is halfway between the two middle ones. Because it depends only on position, it is not pulled up by a small number of very high values.

Worked example

Five hypothetical salaries: £20,000, £25,000, £30,000, £35,000 and £190,000. The median is £30,000. The mean is £60,000, which is higher than four of the five salaries.

Where you will see it

  • The ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings leads with median weekly pay for full-time employees.
  • DWP poverty lines are set at 60% of median household income (see relative and absolute poverty).
  • ONS house price statistics include median prices.

How it trips up claims

  • "Average pay" may mean the median, the mean, or average weekly earnings, which is a mean-based measure. These give different numbers and can move differently.
  • A median for full-time employees is higher than a median for all employees, because part-time pay is included in the second.

Also searched as: median average, middle value, median vs mean, median income

Official definitions: ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, latest bulletin · ONS: Household disposable income and inequality, latest bulletin

Key figures where it matters

Questions that use this term

Related terms

  • Mean: The total of all values divided by how many there are. Often what people mean by 'average', it can be pulled up or down by a few extreme values.
  • Relative and absolute poverty: Relative poverty means household income below 60% of the median in that year. Absolute poverty uses 60% of a fixed past median, adjusted only for inflation.
  • Before and after housing costs (BHC and AHC): Two ways of measuring household income: before housing costs (BHC) counts income as received; after housing costs (AHC) deducts rent, mortgage interest and similar costs.

More averages, rates and risk terms: Mean · Per capita (per head) · Rate per 100,000 · Crude rate · Age-standardised rate · Odds, risk, relative and absolute risk · Deciles and quintiles · Weighted average.