Income Percentile Calculator: Where Do You Rank?
Enter your annual pre-tax income and see exactly what percentile you fall into: US household income (Census 2024) or individual full-time earnings (BLS 2024) — with breakdowns by age, gender, and education, a distribution chart, and a reverse top-X% finder.
Data vintage: 2024 dollars · Census P60-286 + BLS USDL-25-0072The calculator
01Find your income percentile
Reference
02US income distribution table (2024 dollars)
Every percentile anchor below is a published government figure — Census P60-286 for households, BLS USDL-25-0072 for full-time workers — except the grey estimates, which use log-linear/Pareto extension (see methodology). Change the group to re-rank the table.
| Percentile | Income at percentile | Share earning more |
|---|
Reading the table: the 90th-percentile row shows the income you need to earn more than 90% of the group — i.e. the top-10% threshold. Grey rows are modeled estimates, not published cutoffs.
Worked examples
03What the numbers mean in practice
Example 1 — The exact middle
A household earning $83,730 sits at the 50th percentile — the published Census median. Half of US households earn more, half earn less.
Example 2 — Same pay, different rank: $100,000
As a household income, $100,000 ranks at the 57.5th percentile (42.5% of households earn more). As an individual full-time salary, the same $100,000 ranks at the 75.3rd percentile — only about 1 in 4 full-time workers earn more. Always check which population a "percentile" claim uses.
Example 3 — The top 1%
A household needs about $659,415 to reach the top 1% (Pareto estimate from Census 2024). A full-time individual worker needs about $439,584. The published top-10% thresholds are $251,000 (household) and $151,112 (individual).
Example 4 — The gender gap, in percentiles
An $80,000 salary ranks at the 68.2nd percentile for women but only the 56.6th percentile for men (full-time workers 25+, BLS 2024) — the same pay, eleven percentile points apart, because the underlying distributions differ.
Example 5 — The education premium
Median annual earnings for full-time workers run from $38,376 (less than high school) to $98,852 (advanced degree) — a 2.6x gap at the middle of each distribution. Use the group selector above to rank yourself within your education level.
Methodology
04Where the numbers come from
Household income — Census Bureau
Percentile limits are from "Income in the United States: 2024" (P60-286), Table A-1, released September 9, 2025, based on the Current Population Survey (CPS ASEC). Money income is pre-tax and includes earnings, retirement, transfers, and other cash income. Published limits: 10th $19,900; 20th $34,510; 30th $49,520; 40th $65,100; 50th $83,730; 60th $105,500; 70th $135,000; 80th $175,700; 90th $251,000; 95th $335,700.
Individual earnings — Bureau of Labor Statistics
Decile/quartile limits are from USDL-25-0072, Table 9 (January 22, 2025), "quartiles and selected deciles of usual weekly earnings," 2024 annual averages, for full-time wage & salary workers age 25+ (35+ hours/week; self-employed excluded). Weekly figures are annualized (x52) in this tool.
Between, below, and above the published anchors
- Between anchors: straight-line interpolation — the same approach the Census Bureau documents for medians.
- Below the lowest anchor: log-linear extension (incomes can't go negative, so the curve bends).
- Above the highest anchor: a Pareto tail fitted on the top two anchors (alpha = 2.38 household, 2.16 individual) — the Census Bureau's own top-interval method. Top-1% figures are therefore estimates, flagged in grey wherever shown.
- Age bands: the national curve is rescaled by each band's published median (BLS, Q4 2024). This is explicitly approximate: it assumes the shape within a band matches the national shape.
What a percentile means
Being at the 75th percentile means you earn more than 75% of the comparison group — equivalently, you are in the top 25%. Percentiles describe rank, not how much more you earn: the dollar gap between the 90th and 99th percentiles is far larger than the gap between the 40th and 50th.
FAQ
05Income percentile questions, answered
What annual income puts me in the top 1% in the US?
About $659,415 of household income puts a household in the top 1% (Pareto-tail estimate from 2024 Census data). For a full-time individual worker, the top 1% threshold is about $439,584. Both figures are in 2024 dollars and the top-1% values are statistical estimates, not published Census cutoffs.
What income is the top 10% in the US?
The top 10% of household incomes starts at $251,000 (90th percentile, Census 2024). For full-time individual workers age 25+, the top 10% starts at $151,112 per year ($2,906 per week, BLS 2024).
What income is the top 5% in the US?
The top 5% of household incomes starts at $335,700 (95th percentile, Census 2024). For full-time individual workers, the top 5% starts at about $208,401 per year (Pareto estimate from BLS 2024 earnings data).
What is the median household income in the US?
Median household income was $83,730 in 2024, according to the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (report P60-286, released September 9, 2025). Half of US households earned more and half earned less.
What is the median income for a full-time individual worker?
The median full-time wage and salary worker age 25+ earned $1,221 per week in 2024, or $63,492 per year (BLS, USDL-25-0072, 2024 annual averages). This covers wage and salary workers only and excludes the self-employed.
What percentile is a $100,000 income?
A $100,000 household income is at the 57.5th percentile — about 42.5% of households earn more. As an individual full-time salary, $100,000 is at the 75.3rd percentile, meaning roughly 1 in 4 full-time workers earn more.
Is $50,000 a year a good income?
By the numbers, $50,000 is below the median on both measures: it ranks at the 30.3rd percentile of household incomes and the 33.7th percentile of full-time individual earnings (2024 dollars). Whether it feels 'good' depends on household size and local cost of living.
What is the difference between household and individual income percentiles?
Household income counts the combined money income of everyone age 15+ in a household, so its percentiles run higher (median $83,730). Individual earnings track one worker's pay (full-time median $63,492). Use the household view for 'where does my family stand' and the individual view for 'where does my salary stand'.
Why is average income higher than median income?
Income is right-skewed: a small number of very high earners pulls the average up while the median stays at the middle. The Census 2024 ratios show the skew directly — the 90th percentile ($251,000) is 3.00 times the median ($83,730) and 12.61 times the 10th percentile ($19,900).
How is my income percentile calculated?
Your income is matched against published percentile anchors — Census decile limits for households, BLS decile/quartile limits for workers — with straight-line interpolation between anchors, log-linear extension below the lowest anchor, and a Pareto tail above the highest anchor (the same top-interval method the Census Bureau uses).
How does income percentile differ by gender?
Among full-time workers 25+ in 2024, the median woman earned $1,103 per week ($57,356 per year) versus $1,346 per week ($69,992 per year) for the median man — 81.9%. An $80,000 salary ranks at the 68.2nd percentile for women but only the 56.6th percentile for men.
How does education affect income percentile?
Sharply. 2024 median annual earnings for full-time workers 25+ run from $38,376 (less than high school) to $48,360 (high school), $54,912 (some college), $80,236 (bachelor's only), $87,984 (bachelor's and higher), up to $98,852 (advanced degree). Select an education level in the calculator to rank within that group.
How does age affect income percentile?
Median full-time earnings peak at ages 35–44 ($1,356 per week, about $70,512 per year) and are lowest at 16–24 ($766 per week, about $39,832 per year). The calculator's age bands rescale the national distribution by each band's published median — an approximation, since within-band shapes can differ.
What data year does this calculator use?
All figures are in 2024 dollars: household percentiles from the Census Bureau's 'Income in the United States: 2024' (P60-286, released September 9, 2025) and individual earnings from the BLS Usual Weekly Earnings release (USDL-25-0072, January 22, 2025, 2024 annual averages). 2025 data is not yet published by either agency.
What is the difference between a percentile and a percentage?
A percentage is a share of 100 — e.g., earning 10% more. A percentile is a rank — the 90th percentile means you earn more than 90% of the comparison group. Being in the 'top 10%' is the same as being at or above the 90th percentile.
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