Wall Street bonuses set an all-time record in 2025, but the outlook for 2026 is already growing bleaker

(SeaPRwire) –   Wall Street delivered a standout year of performance in 2025, and that success is clearly reflected in employee pay.

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced Thursday that the securities industry’s total bonus pool hit an all-time high of $49.2 billion in 2025, a 9% rise from the previous year, while the average bonus climbed 6% to $246,900. Record profits drove the higher payouts: Wall Street posted $65.1 billion in pre-tax earnings in 2025, an increase of more than 30% from the $49.9 billion it earned the year prior.

“Wall Street turned in strong results for most of last year, even amid persistent domestic and global disruptions,” DiNapoli said. “When Wall Street performs well, it benefits both our state and city budgets. However, we are seeing slower job growth, and geopolitical conflicts pose unprecedented risks to both short-term and long-term outlooks.”

Robust trading activity, underwriting business, and asset-management fees were the core drivers of these gains. There is one important caveat, though: when adjusted for inflation, the bonus pool reached its highest level before the Great Recession in 2006, standing at $53.7 billion in current dollars, meaning the newly announced record only applies to unadjusted nominal figures.

Wall Street continues to have an enormous economic footprint in New York. The sector made up 20.2% of all economic activity in New York City in 2024, and contributed 19.4% of total state tax collections in the most recent fiscal year. DiNapoli estimates that the 2025 bonuses will generate an extra $199 million in state income tax revenue and an additional $91 million for the city compared to 2024, a critical financial buffer as federal funding becomes less certain.

The average total salary for securities industry workers in New York City, including bonuses, rose 7.3% to $505,677 in 2024. That figure is the second highest on record, and nearly five times the average pay for all other private sector workers in the city. Bonuses alone accounted for roughly 42% of all wages across the industry.

Not all trends are positive, however. Total industry headcount fell to 198,200 in 2025, down from a 30-year peak of 201,500 in 2024, though the comptroller’s office expects annual data revisions will show modest employment growth. New York City’s share of national securities jobs has also slipped to 17.9%, down from around one-third of the U.S. total in 1990, as rival hubs like Dallas and Miami have aggressively expanded their own financial services sectors.

There is growing concern now that 2026 results will not come close to matching 2025’s performance. New York’s budget plans may already be overly optimistic: the governor’s proposed budget assumed finance-sector bonuses would rise 25.9% in the current fiscal year, while the city projected a 15.1% jump in securities bonuses. Based on DiNapoli’s latest estimates, neither target appears achievable.

President Trump’s escalating tariff agenda has shaken equity markets in early 2026, and Wall Street’s hiring momentum has stalled. With one in 13 New York City jobs tied directly or indirectly to the securities industry, the consequences of a potential slowdown extend far beyond the trading floor.