Wall Street statistics at a glance
Wall Street is still one of the clearest examples of how finance, taxes, jobs, and market structure can move together. The latest figures show a sector that is generating record profits, record bonuses, and a growing share of New York’s tax base while also navigating a tighter employment picture in 2025.
Table of contents
- Key Wall Street statistics
- Profits, bonuses, and salaries
- Jobs and industry footprint
- Markets and trading activity
- Listings, exchanges, and public companies
- Why Wall Street still matters to New York
Key Wall Street statistics
Fast facts
- Wall Street profits reached $49.9 billion in 2024, the fourth-highest level on record (OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025).
- First-half 2025 profits totaled $30.4 billion, up 30.7% year over year (OSC DiNapoli: Wall Street Profits Surge Again, Giving New York a Fiscal Boost).
- The Wall Street bonus pool hit $47.5 billion in 2024, a new record (OSC 2024 Wall Street Bonuses).
- The average bonus in New York City’s securities industry reached $244,700 in 2024 (OSC 2024 Wall Street Bonuses).
- Average annual salary in NYC’s securities industry reached $505,630 in 2024 (OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025).
- NYC securities-industry employment reached 201,500 jobs in 2024, surpassing the previous record set in 2000 (OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025).
Why the numbers stand out
The dataset points to a sector that is still unusually concentrated, unusually profitable, and unusually important to state and city finances. At the same time, it also shows how trading, listings, and tax collections remain central to the Wall Street story rather than only pay and profits.
Profits, bonuses, and salaries
Wall Street’s profit picture improved sharply in 2024 and carried into 2025. The most recent annual figure shows $49.9 billion in profits in 2024, with profits up 90% from the prior year (OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025). That makes 2024 the fourth-strongest profit year on record in the supplied dataset.
A useful way to read that number is alongside the 2025 first-half data. Wall Street’s first-half 2025 profits of $30.4 billion were already 30.7% higher year over year (OSC DiNapoli: Wall Street Profits Surge Again, Giving New York a Fiscal Boost). That means the earnings base remained strong well into the following year rather than spiking once and fading.
The bonus data tells a similar story. The $47.5 billion bonus pool in 2024 was the largest on record in the dataset and was up 34% from the prior year (OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025). That matters because bonuses are one of the quickest ways Wall Street performance flows into household income, local spending, and tax receipts.
Wall Street compensation snapshot
| Measure | 2024 figure | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall Street profits | $49.9 billion | Up 90% YoY | OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025 |
| Bonus pool | $47.5 billion | Up 34% YoY | OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025 |
| Average bonus | $244,700 | Up 31.5% YoY | OSC 2024 Wall Street Bonuses |
| Average annual salary | $505,630 | Up 7.3% YoY | OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025 |
| First-half 2025 profits | $30.4 billion | Up 30.7% YoY | OSC DiNapoli: Wall Street Profits Surge Again, Giving New York a Fiscal Boost |
The salary figure is especially notable. An average annual salary of $505,630 in 2024 places securities workers far above typical city and state pay levels (OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025). Even with a more moderate 7.3% increase than the bonus pool’s jump, the pay level still signals a sector with extraordinary earning power.
What the compensation figures suggest
- Profits are broad enough to support large payouts, not just isolated wins.
- Bonuses rose faster than average salaries, which suggests incentive pay was doing more of the heavy lifting in 2024 (OSC 2024 Wall Street Bonuses; OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025).
- The 2025 half-year profit number shows momentum rather than a one-year anomaly (OSC DiNapoli: Wall Street Profits Surge Again, Giving New York a Fiscal Boost).
Jobs and industry footprint
Wall Street is not only about money flowing through firms. It is also a major employment engine across New York City and the state.
The NYC securities industry employed 201,500 people in 2024, which exceeded the previous peak reached in 2000 (OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025). That is a powerful marker because it shows the sector has recovered to a record staffing level even after a long series of market cycles, regulatory changes, and technology shifts.
A broader state-level view reinforces how concentrated this industry is. As of December 2024, New York State securities employment stood at 213,000 jobs, and about 194,000 of those jobs were in NYC (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025). That means roughly 91% of New York State securities jobs were in the city (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
The national comparison puts the concentration into perspective. The U.S. securities industry employed 1,132,500 people in December 2024 (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025). New York therefore remains the single most important state in the industry even though securities jobs are spread across the country.
Job concentration by geography
| Geography | Employment | Share / note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York State | 213,000 | State total, Dec. 2024 | SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025 |
| New York City | 194,000 | About 91% of state total | SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025 |
| United States | 1,132,500 | National total, Dec. 2024 | SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025 |
| NYC securities industry | 201,500 | Record level in 2024 | OSC The Securities Industry in New York City, October 2025 |
Additional job facts that matter
- New York State had over 8,000 securities-industry offices (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
- The state had over 117,000 registered representatives (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
- Those offices and representatives were spread across more than 600 cities and towns (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
- Roughly 1 in 19 New York State jobs were directly or indirectly associated with securities (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
- In New York City, the ratio was even stronger: 1 in 11 NYC jobs were directly or indirectly associated with securities (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
That last pair is important because it shows Wall Street is not just a downtown district story. It is embedded in labor markets, commercial real estate, commuting patterns, and local spending across the region.
Markets and trading activity
Wall Street statistics are easier to interpret when you look at the trading environment behind them. The supplied data shows a market structure with huge retail participation, substantial ETF volume, and rapid growth in short-dated options.
The S&P 500 returned 23.3% in 2024, after returning 24.2% in 2023 (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium). Strong equity performance helped support trading activity across exchanges and investment products.
Daily equity trading volume also stayed enormous. Average daily U.S. equity volume reached 12.2 billion shares in 2024, up 10.2% year over year (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium). Retail trading made up 17.9% of total equity volumes, and after-hours trading accounted for 10.8% (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
Trading structure highlights
- 28% of shares traded in 2024 were priced at $5 or below (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
- 13.5% of shares traded in 2024 were priced under $1 (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
- Trading between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. ET accounted for 5.5% of total equity volume (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
- ETF volume averaged 2.4 billion shares in 2024, up 5.8% year over year (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
- ETFs represented 19.6% of total equity volumes in 2024 (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
Options activity was equally striking. The 2024 options average daily volume reached 47.3 million contracts, up 9.0% year over year (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium). Index options ADV reached 4.1 million contracts, up 7.9% year over year and 127.2% since 2020 (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium). Short-dated options grew 318.3% since 2018, rising from 6.0 million contracts in 2018 to 25.1 million in 2024 (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
That growth profile suggests a market that is increasingly shaped by fast-moving strategies, hedging demand, and product innovation. It also explains why options, ETFs, and intraday liquidity are such a large part of modern Wall Street statistics.
A closer look at product growth
| Market measure | 2024 figure | Growth context | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. equity ADV | 12.2 billion shares | Up 10.2% YoY | SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium |
| ETF volume | 2.4 billion shares | Up 5.8% YoY | SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium |
| Options ADV | 47.3 million contracts | Up 9.0% YoY | SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium |
| Index options ADV | 4.1 million contracts | Up 7.9% YoY | SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium |
| Short-dated options | 25.1 million contracts | Up 318.3% since 2018 | SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium |
Listings, exchanges, and public companies
Another angle on Wall Street statistics is the listed-company ecosystem. The New York Stock Exchange community includes over 2,400 public companies (NYSE Listing at NYSE). Within that group are over 530 of the world’s largest and most influential international companies (NYSE Listing at NYSE).
The exchange’s scale is visible in benchmark representation too. NYSE-listed companies represent 74% of the publicly listed Fortune 500 and 70% of the S&P 500 (NYSE Listing at NYSE). That is a reminder that Wall Street is still one of the central gateways for corporate visibility, liquidity, and capital formation.
The 2024 fundraising data supports that view. NYSE Group ranked #1 in total proceeds in 2024 and raised over $109 billion across IPOs and follow-on offerings (NYSE Listing at NYSE). It also hosted seven of the ten largest U.S. IPOs in 2024 (NYSE Listing at NYSE).
Listing and market-structure takeaways
- The ETF marketplace has grown to over $10 trillion in assets under management (NYSE Listing at NYSE).
- The NYSE ETF ecosystem offers access to over 4,000 ETFs (NYSE Listing at NYSE).
- IPO deal value reached $31.3 billion in 2024, up 55.8% year over year (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
- Listed operating companies were 9.1% below the 6,000 threshold in 2024 (SIFMA Equity Market Structure Compendium).
The combination of these facts shows a market that is both mature and still expanding in important niches. Public listings, ETFs, and options all contribute to Wall Street’s continued dominance in capital markets.
Why Wall Street still matters to New York
Wall Street’s influence goes well beyond trading screens and compensation reports. The sector generated 15.2% of New York State private-sector wages in the first half of 2024, while accounting for only 2.5% of private-sector employment (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025). That gap between jobs and wages shows how concentrated the industry’s economic impact really is.
The tax data is just as revealing. State tax collections derived from securities totaled $19.4 billion in fiscal 2024, or about 20% of New York State’s total tax revenue (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025). At the city level, securities generated $5.1 billion in NYC tax collections, equal to 7.0% of total city tax revenue (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
Those figures help explain why Wall Street receives so much policy attention. A sector that supplies a large share of wages and tax revenue will always matter more than its employment share alone suggests.
Context from the broader business environment
- New York State ranked 28th in the Tax Foundation’s 2025 corporate tax category (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
- New York State ranked last overall in the 2025 state tax environment for business (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2025).
- New York State lost $24.5 billion in adjusted gross income to other states in 2021 (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2024).
- Securities-industry employment in New York State fell 2.4% in 2023, while nationwide securities employment grew 3.4% (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2024).
The last two points add an important caution. Wall Street may be strong at the top line, but the industry still faces competition from other states, shifting job geography, and tax pressure. The 2013-to-2023 trend data shows that the national securities workforce grew by 250,400 jobs over the decade, a 28.7% increase, while New York State added 21,700 jobs for 11.5% growth (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2024).
That is a meaningful gain, but it also shows that other states have been capturing a larger share of industry expansion. Texas added 36,900 securities-industry jobs from 2013 to 2023, while California added 13,600, Massachusetts 11,400, Pennsylvania 9,200, Illinois 8,900, Arizona 7,300, Minnesota 3,100, and Delaware 2,500 (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2024). Connecticut and New Jersey, by contrast, lost 1,800 and 2,000 jobs respectively over the same period (SIFMA The Street, The City, and The State 2024).
Wall Street, in other words, is still the center of gravity, but the map around it is more competitive than it used to be. Its profits, bonuses, listings, and tax contributions remain extraordinary, yet the underlying industry footprint is increasingly distributed across multiple states and market hubs.