America's best-paid interns make more money than the median U.S. worker

The 25 U.S. companies with the best-paying summer internships each pay their interns at least $4,500 a month, equivalent to a $54,000 annual salary. By comparison, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the median pay for a U.S. worker is $44,460 a year.

Sixteen of those 25 firms are in technology, including list-leader Facebook, where interns make a median of $8,000 a month. The next three on the list are Microsoft (which pays a median $7,100 a month), ExxonMobil ($6,507), and Salesforce ($6,450). Sixteen of the companies were also top contenders for intern pay back in 2014 (the last time this report was issued), and 13 of those saw significant surges in their median pay over the past three years.

It is unclear whether recent attention towards the issue of unpaid internships has affected the increases.

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