Median Annual Earnings

Description	The typical (median) yearly earnings of students who left the community college system and went straight into the workforce (rather than transferring to a 4-year university or any other post-secondary institution).
Data Source(s)	DataVista: Metric 800 () Data can be downloaded by clicking .csv at the top of the link.
Calculations	None
Denominator	NA
Value Type	Count/Dollars
Notes	Median is the middle amount when you line up all students’ earnings from lowest to highest (so half earn more, half earn less) Who is included: Students who completed their community college program and entered the job market instead of continuing their education elsewhere. Earnings are determined by matching Social Security numbers with the Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage file. Individuals may be employed but not appear in the UI wage file like those working for the military, the federal government, self-employed individuals, or those employed outside of California. How earnings are measured: Earnings are calculated by taking a person’s earning from the two quarters after the person’s exit from the system (If the student existed in the second quarter (May), his or her earnings are taken from the fourth quarter of that year (Sep-Dec) and annualized. The values are adjusted for inflation to reflect real dollar value over time.