Top interns make more than average worker

Summer is nearing, and workplaces await the arrival of this year’s interns to help out on extra projects and shoulder the seasonal load. But among certain companies, they’re likely doing more than getting coffee and making copies. Or at least, they’re being paid that way.

According to a new report by the jobs site Glassdoor, the 25 best-paying companies for internships each pay their median summer worker more than $4,500 a month. That amount, if it was paid over the course of a full year, would be north of $54,000, exceeding the median annual pay for a U.S. worker, according to Glassdoor’s own local pay reports ($51,350), and the annual figure calculated from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest weekly earnings data for full-time wage and salary workers ($44,460).

Topping the list was Facebook, where the median pay for interns is $8,000 a month, according to the reports from the newest analysis. That’s $1,800 more than the $6,200 the social media giant reportedly paid interns when Glassdoor last issued its last highest paying internship report, in 2014. The next three were Microsoft (which pays a median $7,100 a month); ExxonMobil ($6,507) and Salesforce ($6,450).

Interns are “doing real work with real deadlines and very high expectations,” said Glassdoor community expert Scott Dobroski. “But they’re getting hired at a level that’s much more than the average U.S. worker.”