Household income percentile

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Where you stand
Top 44%

your household grosses more than 56% of households in the United States

The median household $85.3k half of the United States grosses less than this
You, Top 44%the median line$20k$100k$500kTop 44%median$20k$100k$500k

Share of households below each gross income in the United States (Fed SCF, 2022, indexed to 2026), drawn through the survey’s own published points. The dot is your household.

In the United States the median household earns $85.3k a year before tax and the average $172k, pulled up by the top. Your $100k is the top 44%.

How to use this, and the parts people get wrong
  • Add every earner's gross income in the household into one figure, including pensions and benefits.
  • One household is one entry, whether one person earns or three do.
  • Deciles split the country's households into ten equal groups; the tool tells you which tenth is yours.

The lines above and below your household

A household grossing $100k in the United States earns more than 56% of households. The next line up, the top 30%, is $40.5k away.

$85.3kthe median household in the United States
$172kthe average household there, pulled up by the top

The income ladder

Gross household income at each published line in the United States. The line just above you is marked.

The lineHousehold income at it
Bottom 5%$17.1k
Bottom 10%$24.9k
Bottom 20%$38.1k
Bottom 30%$52.5k
Bottom 40%$65.6k
Median$85.3k
Top 40%$110k
Top 30%$140k
Top 20%$184k
Top 10%$302k
Top 5%$474k
Top 1%$1.5m

The survey for the United States publishes thirteen points up to the top 1%.

Questions people ask

What is the average household income?
In the United States the median household earns $85,340 a year before tax, so half of households earn less. The mean is higher, $171,738, because the largest incomes pull it up: that gap is why "average" is ambiguous and this page names which one it means. The tool answers both for 23 countries.
What percentile is a $100,000 household income?
In the United States, a household grossing $100,000 sits at about the top 44% of households (56% earn less), on the Fed's 2022 survey indexed to 2026. The tool answers the same question for 23 countries.
Is this household or individual income?
Household: everyone under one roof combined, before tax, which is how the underlying surveys measure it. A two-earner couple counts once, so compare your household total, not one salary.
Gross or after tax?
Gross. Tax systems differ too much across 23 countries to net this honestly in one table; the take-home pay calculator on this site does that job with the OECD model.
Which countries are covered?
The United States (Fed Survey of Consumer Finances) and the 22 EU countries of the ECB household survey: the countries with a real household income distribution published. Each is shown in its own survey currency.
Why does the answer stop at the top 10% in EU countries?
Because the survey publishes nine deciles and stops. Above the last published point this page says "Top 10%" and no more; the US survey publishes to the top 1%, so the US answer goes further.

Method and sources

  • Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances 2022Summary extract public microdata, weighted household figures
  • ECB Household Finance and Consumption Survey, 2021 waveStatistical tables v4.0 (July 2023), table I3
The computation

US percentiles are computed from the Fed SCF 2022 summary-extract microdata (gross household income, weighted, five implicates pooled); the median reproduces the published Fed figure. EU deciles come from the ECB HFCS 2021-wave table I3, extracted and verified two independent ways, including the cross-sheet identity that table I3's median equals table I1's. Between published points the page interpolates linearly; beyond them it reports the band and stops.

What these figures do not cover
  • Gross income, before tax; two households with the same gross can take home very different amounts.
  • Income reference periods differ: 2021 for the US survey, 2019 or 2020 for the EU countries.
  • Each country in its own survey currency; no cross-currency ranking.
  • EU resolution is nine deciles; precision beyond the top 10% exists only for the US.

Last updated July 2026.

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