Raw Data: The High School Wage Premium for Men

The median income for men with a high school diploma is about $36,000 these days. Men who completed only grades 9-12 without graduating have a median income of about $23,000. In other words, they earn 65 cents for every dollar that high school grads earn. This penalty for being able to read and write at only a 9-10th grade level has been steady for the past three decades: