Article — US Income Percentile Calculator
US income percentile calculator: what your income rank means
In 2023 the US median household income was $80,610, the 90th-percentile threshold was $234,900, and the top 1% began at roughly $600,000 (Census Bureau P60-282). The same income lands at a different percentile depending on whether you compare households or individual workers, and depending on which state or metro you live in. A $100K household income is the 60th percentile nationally but the 35th in San Francisco County.
The thresholds above come from the Current Population Survey, the same source the Census Bureau uses for its annual income report. The calculator interpolates between published decile breakpoints to produce a percentile for any income figure.
What an income percentile is
The xth income percentile is the dollar value below which x% of the population earns. The 50th percentile is the median: half earn less, half earn more. The 90th percentile is the income level that 90% of the population falls below. Percentiles are positions in a distribution, not ratios or percentages of total income.
Two distributions matter for US income reporting. Household income totals every earner under one roof and is what the Census Bureau emphasises in its annual release. Individual earnings (or income) is one person on a tax return. The two scales differ substantially because most US households have more than one earner.
The Census Bureau has published median household income annually since 1947. Real (inflation-adjusted) median household income roughly doubled between 1947 and 2023, from about $40,000 to $80,610 in 2023 dollars. Most of that gain came before 1980 - growth since then has been concentrated in the upper half of the distribution.
US income percentile thresholds
The 2023 Census Bureau release (Table A-2) reports household income percentiles at every decile, plus the 95th. The thresholds map roughly to the class labels in popular use.
- 10th percentile = $19,500 (low income)
- 20th = $32,000
- 50th (median) = $80,610
- 80th = $165,000 (upper-middle)
- 90th = $234,900 (top 10%)
- 95th = $295,000 (top 5%)
- 99th = $600,000 (top 1%)
- Top 0.1% = $3.3M+ (IRS data; not in CPS)
The very top of the distribution is hard to measure through household surveys. The Census Bureau truncates incomes above $5M in its CPS data for privacy reasons. For the top 1% and especially the top 0.1%, IRS Statistics of Income data based on actual tax returns is more accurate.
Household vs. individual income
The two scales should never be mixed. The same $100,000 figure lands at the 60th percentile as household income and roughly the 73rd as individual earnings. Both are correct. They answer different questions.
The gap exists because the typical US household has 1.6 earners. Stacking two median individual earners (~$50,310 each) yields roughly $100,000, putting the resulting household near the 60th percentile. Single-earner households earning $100,000 are doing the work of two median individuals, so the same household income reflects a higher individual percentile.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports a third figure - weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers - which excludes part-time and self-employed workers and runs higher than the Census Bureau individual earnings figure. When comparing percentiles, check which definition the source uses.
$100K income percentile in the US
$100,000 is the most-searched income figure in the US, and the percentile answer depends on context. Nationally, $100K household income is just above the 60th percentile - upper-middle by most labels, but not in the top quarter. The same amount as one person's earnings is the 73rd percentile, comfortably above three-quarters of workers.
US household, all states ~60th percentileUS individual worker ~73rd percentileHousehold, San Francisco County ~35th percentileHousehold, rural Mississippi ~85th percentileThe geographic spread is the under-appreciated part. The Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics both publish metro-level data. In the Bay Area, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has a $159,000 median household income (2023 ACS) - more than twice the national figure. In McAllen, Texas the median is $54,400.
Top 1% and top 10% income
The top 1% household income threshold is $600,000 according to Census Bureau CPS data, or roughly $755,000 according to IRS tax-return data (which includes more capital gains). The gap reflects the difference between survey and administrative data: surveys undersample very high incomes, while tax returns capture them with full precision but only when they are filed.
The top 10% (90th-percentile) threshold is more consistent across sources: about $234,900 for households, $153,000 for individual workers. Reaching the top 10% as a household typically requires two earners both in the upper half of the individual distribution, or one earner near the individual 90th percentile.
Reports that the top 1% earns "20-25% of total income" come with a footnote: the figure swings 3-4 points up or down depending on the stock market in any given year. Capital gains are included in some series and excluded from others. When comparing top-share statistics across years or studies, check which series is being used.
Income percentile by geography
National percentiles average across very different local economies. The same dollar income places you very differently depending on where you live, and cost of living tracks that variation only partially.
Massachusetts and New Jersey lead the state ranking with median household incomes above $100,000. Mississippi, West Virginia and Louisiana sit at the bottom near $54,000. The 47% gap between top and bottom states is wider than the gap between the 25th and 75th national household percentiles.
Within states, metro-level variation is even wider. Affluent suburbs of New York and Washington DC have median household incomes above $150,000. Rural counties in the same states fall below $50,000. HUD uses these local figures - Area Median Income or AMI - to set affordable-housing eligibility thresholds.
How the numbers are measured
Three federal sources publish US income statistics. The Census Bureau Current Population Survey ASEC is the headline source for annual household and individual income, surveying about 75,000 households each March. The IRS Statistics of Income program publishes income statistics from actual tax returns, with better coverage at the top of the distribution but no information on non-filers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes earnings data through the Current Employment Statistics survey and the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
The three sources agree closely on the median and on the bottom half of the distribution. They diverge above the 90th percentile because surveys undersample very high incomes (CPS), tax data misses non-filers and excludes some non-cash income (IRS), and BLS earnings data covers only wage and salary workers.
Why mean and median disagree
Mean US household income in 2023 was $114,500. Median was $80,610. The $33,900 gap reflects a right-skewed distribution: a small number of very high earners pulls the average up well above the typical household. Median is the more useful measure of "typical" income, which is why the Census Bureau leads with it.
When you see an income statistic that uses "average," check whether it means mean or median. News headlines and political talking points often quote mean income to make the typical American sound richer than they are. The Census Bureau reports both, and the gap between them is itself a useful inequality indicator.
The mean-median gap also explains the apparent puzzle of why so many Americans feel poorer than the numbers suggest. About 56% of households earn below the mean income. The percentile calculator above answers the question more directly: where, exactly, does your household or income land in the actual distribution?