Wall Street bonuses hit a new record last year, edging toward $250,000 average
2025 was a pretty good year for US stocks... and new data suggests it was an even better one for workers on Wall Street itself.
In a year that saw pretax profits on the Street rise more than 30% to a record $65 billion, dealmakers, traders, and wealth managers raked in ~$246,900 in bonuses on average — an all-time high — per a new report from New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli published on Thursday.
According to DiNapoli, last year’s record $49.2 billion bonus pool (estimated using income tax data without including stock options or other deferred compensation) reflects Wall Street’s “strong performance for much of last year, despite all of the ongoing domestic and international upheavals.”
High trading activity, underwriting, and asset management fees were all influential drivers behind the unprecedented gains — which trickled down in a more pronounced way to a smaller number of bankers, since the securities industry’s headcount fell to 198,200 last year from the 30-year high of 201,500 seen in 2024.
DiNapoli added, “When Wall Street does well, it’s good for our state and city budgets,” noting that the sector accounted for almost 20% of the state’s total tax collections in the last fiscal year. The latest bonus figures are expected to generate $199 million in additional state income tax revenue, and $91 million more for the city compared with 2024. As The Wall Street Journal reported, however, the 9% jump in the bonus pool fell a little under the 15% jump that city officials had planned for.
Bonuses accounted for ~42% of the New York securities industry’s $503,677 average annual salary in 2024, the report outlined — Wall Street’s second-highest salary on record. For context, this is nearly 5x the average annual wage of other private sector workers in New York City, and 7x the average wage for private sector workers nationwide.
High trading activity, underwriting, and asset management fees were all influential drivers behind the unprecedented gains — which trickled down in a more pronounced way to a smaller number of bankers, since the securities industry’s headcount fell to 198,200 last year from the 30-year high of 201,500 seen in 2024.
DiNapoli added, “When Wall Street does well, it’s good for our state and city budgets,” noting that the sector accounted for almost 20% of the state’s total tax collections in the last fiscal year. The latest bonus figures are expected to generate $199 million in additional state income tax revenue, and $91 million more for the city compared with 2024. As The Wall Street Journal reported, however, the 9% jump in the bonus pool fell a little under the 15% jump that city officials had planned for.
Bonuses accounted for ~42% of the New York securities industry’s $503,677 average annual salary in 2024, the report outlined — Wall Street’s second-highest salary on record. For context, this is nearly 5x the average annual wage of other private sector workers in New York City, and 7x the average wage for private sector workers nationwide.
