What effect do the lowest paid and highest paid states have on calculating the mean and median for the United States?

Both the mean and median are two ways to determine an average. Calculating the mean involves adding up all the values and then dividing them by the total number. The median, on the other hand, is found by sorting data in order of least to most and then finding the mid-point. Both the states with the lowest and highest salaries can affect these results when calculating statistics.

When looking at the mean, having low-paid or high-paid states will raise or lower it accordingly, as each state’s wages are taken into account when calculating this statistic. If, for example, there are four states that pay $20/hr each, but also $30/hr and $40/hr. The combined average wage of these four states would then be $35 per hour. This example shows how a state with a high average wage can have disproportionate influence on the national average.

When it comes to calculating medians though; outliers such as high-paid or low-paid states will have no effect whatsoever since they don’t affect which value falls in middle spot upon sorting them from least to greatest (In our above example; with four values sorted from least to greatest ($20/$30/$40/$50), it doesn’t matter whether we add a fifth value that’s either higher or lower than those four). Therefore regardless of what numbers are added into consideration for median calculations; an extreme outlier won’t change its result one bit as long as it isn’t part of that “middle” group.