At the time of Augustus, a legionary received a salary of 900 sesterces. By 214, this had been raised to 3,600 sesterces. Officers, such as centurions, were paid fifteen or more times as much as normal soldiers. Soldiers could also receive lump sum payments upon a new emperor's ascension, as well as retirement bonuses and grants of land.

The average income of other wage earners is very difficult to assess. The difference between the money earned by mosaic craftsmen, for example, would have been much higher than a worker on a farm in Gaul. Also, a lot of wage earners would have been slaves or freedmen, and their pay rates would have differed. Geography would make pay differ as well - a labourer on an expensive wine or olive farm in Italy would make more money than a wheat farmer in Hispania. Time would also make a difference - wage earners were most likely in higher demand after the Antonine Plague. You can see it is pretty darn hard to estimate an average income for an average Roman, because there was no such thing.

In Egypt, on the estate of one Aurelius Appianus, during the mid-third century, workers received a monthly payment of four to twelve drachmas (1 drachma = 2 sesterces (roughly, and varied over time just like the ups and downs of modern currencies)) as well as a large portion of wheat (most likely more than they would eat alone - it was to be shared with their family). More specialised workers would receive payments up to 60 drachmas. The workers also lived on the estate, potentially rent free, and received clothing bonuses. So if 60 drachmas a month equals 1,440 sesterces a year in the mid-third century, a legionary was receiving roughly 2.5 times the wage that an earner on this particular estate made.