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New York & Tri-State  + Finance  | 

Wall Street Bonus Pool Reaches Record $49.2B

Wall Street’s securities industry bonus pool reached a record $49.2 billion in 2025, up 9% from the previous year, while the average bonus rose 6% to $246,900, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said Thursday. The increases reflect a rise of more than 30% in Wall Street’s profits, which totaled $65.1 billion in 2025.

“Wall Street saw strong performance for much of last year, despite all of the ongoing domestic and international upheavals,” said DiNapoli. “When Wall Street does well, it’s good for our state and city budgets, which are reliant on the industry’s significant tax contributions. However, we are seeing slower job growth, and geopolitical conflicts have global repercussions that pose extraordinary risks for the short- and long-term outlook on the financial sector and for broader economic markets.”

In 2025, strong trading activity, underwriting and management fee revenue drove profits and bonuses higher. When adjusted for inflation, though, the bonus pool peaked in 2006 at $53.7 billion.

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Comptroller DiNapoli's office

About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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