eli5 Why do we use median salary instead of mean salary?

Question

Wouldnt mean salary be a better representation of the public then median?

In: Other

Answer 1

Using both gives you a good idea of income distribution.

In the very unusual case that the mean is lower than the median, you might very well scratch your head over why more than half of everyone are almost equally rich except for a select few people making nothing.

Also, a true statistics nerd that just want his quick fix would prefer a consolidated graph with 3 curves. One for percentile median, one for percentile mean, and one for the percentile quotient.