Income percentile calculator
Where does your household income rank in America? The median is $83,730; the top 10% starts at $251,000 (Census Bureau, 2024). Enter your pre-tax household income to see your percentile.
| Percentile | Household household income |
|---|---|
| 10th | $19,900 |
| 20th | $34,510 |
| 50th (median) | $83,730 |
| 90th | $251,000 |
| 95th | $335,700 |
Methodology
Percentile anchors are household income limits from the US Census Bureau's "Income in the United States: 2024" report (P60-286, Current Population Survey ASEC): 10th, 20th, 50th, 90th, and 95th percentiles. Between anchors we interpolate linearly in log-dollars. The Census does not publish reliable values above the 95th percentile (survey top-coding), so higher incomes are reported as top 5% rather than pretending to precision the data cannot support. Income is pre-tax money income of all household members combined.
Frequently asked questions
What income puts you in the top 10% of US households?
About $251,000 of pre-tax household income reaches the 90th percentile, per the Census Bureau's Income in the United States: 2024 report. The top 5% starts at roughly $335,700. These are household figures — all earners under one roof combined.
What is the median household income in the US?
$83,730 in 2024 (Census Bureau, CPS ASEC). Half of American households earn less than that. For context: the 20th percentile is $34,510 and the 10th percentile is $19,900.
Is $100,000 a good household income?
A $100,000 household income sits around the 56th-60th percentile — above the $83,730 median but closer to the middle than most people assume, because household income combines all earners. A single person earning $100,000 ranks far higher among individual earners than a $100,000 dual-income household ranks among households.
What income is top 1% in the US?
The Census stops publishing percentile values at the 95th ($335,700), because survey top-coding makes the extreme tail unreliable. Academic estimates from tax data (Saez/Piketty, IRS SOI) place the top 1% household threshold in the $600,000-800,000 range depending on year and definition. This calculator reports anything above the 95th percentile simply as top 5%.
Household income vs individual income — which does this measure?
Household: the combined pre-tax income of everyone living together, which is how the Census reports its headline distribution. Individual earner percentiles are lower at every dollar level — a $150,000 individual salary is roughly a top-10% personal income, while a $150,000 household income is around the 70th-75th percentile.
Related tools
Sources: US Census Bureau P60-286 (Income in the United States: 2024). Snowballr provides financial education, not investment advice.