Income Percentile Calculator by Age (2026)
How rich am I? Find out where your salary ranks among Americans your age — and why the answer probably matters less than you think.
Quick answer: US median individual income is roughly $42,000. The top 10% of individual earners nationally make $135,000+, the top 5% earn $185,000+, and the top 1% earn $350,000+. Thresholds vary significantly by age — use the calculator below for your age bracket.
Your numbers
Used to pick your age bracket (35-39) for peer benchmarks.
Wages + self-employment, not household. Use gross, not take-home.
- 25th percentile
- $34,000
- Median (50th)
- $56,000
- 75th percentile
- $90,000
- Top 10% (90th)
- $150,000
- Top 1% (99th)
- $400,000
Your ranking
Above median — keep climbing.
You're out-earning more than half your age peers. The gap from here to the top 10% is roughly $75,000. Income growth from this point usually comes from role change or side income, not raises.
Income Percentile Distribution by Age
Individual pre-tax annual income thresholds by age bracket, in 2024 USD. Each column is the income level you need to be at or above that percentile for your age group.
| Age | 25th | Median | 75th | Top 10% | Top 1% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-24 | $12,000 | $24,000 | $38,000 | $58,000 | $120,000 |
| 25-29 | $28,000 | $45,000 | $68,000 | $105,000 | $240,000 |
| 30-34 | $32,000 | $52,000 | $82,000 | $135,000 | $340,000 |
| 35-39 | $34,000 | $56,000 | $90,000 | $150,000 | $400,000 |
| 40-44 | $35,000 | $58,000 | $95,000 | $160,000 | $430,000 |
| 45-49 | $34,000 | $58,000 | $96,000 | $165,000 | $450,000 |
| 50-54 | $33,000 | $57,000 | $94,000 | $165,000 | $470,000 |
| 55-59 | $30,000 | $54,000 | $90,000 | $160,000 | $460,000 |
| 60-64 | $24,000 | $46,000 | $80,000 | $145,000 | $420,000 |
| 65+ | $18,000 | $30,000 | $55,000 | $100,000 | $320,000 |
What counts as a high income?
Conventionally, the top 10%marks the boundary of "high income" — that's about $135,000 for individual earners nationally, or roughly $190,000 for households. The IRS uses $200,000as the cutoff for its "high-income taxpayer" audit statistics, which aligns closely with the 10% threshold for households.
"Six figures" ($100,000+) is still a useful milestone but no longer exceptional: roughly 18% of US individual earners cross it, and in high cost-of-living metros (SF, NYC, Boston, Seattle) it's closer to the median for working-age professionals.
The top 1% threshold nationally is about $350,000 for individuals. By age: the top 1% for ages 25–29 starts at $240K; for ages 40–54 it's $430K–$470K. The top 0.1% starts around $1M individually and is dominated by business owners, executives, and high-earning professionals.
Methodology
Percentile figures blend three public sources: US Census ACS 2024 5-year estimates (earnings by age, Table B20001); BLS Current Population Survey ASEC 2024 for lower-tail percentiles; and IRS Statistics of Income returns data for top-percentile tails, scaled to 2024 USD. All figures are individual (not household) pre-tax income including wages and self-employment earnings.
Your input is mapped to your age bracket, then piecewise-linearly interpolated between published breakpoints to produce an integer percentile. Because top-tail public data is sparse, percentiles above 99 are clamped — if you're meaningfully above the 99th threshold, your true rank is somewhere in the top 1% but not further resolvable without IRS microdata access.
Updated 2026-04-29. Figures in 2024 USD.
Frequently asked questions
What is an income percentile?
Your income percentile tells you what share of Americans you out-earn. If your income is at the 80th percentile, you earn more than 80% of people in your comparison group and less than the top 20%. Percentiles are a more useful benchmark than averages because US incomes are highly skewed — a handful of very high earners pull the mean well above what most people actually make.
What salary is top 1% in the US?
Based on 2024 IRS and Census data, individual income of roughly $350,000 puts you in the top 1% of all US earners nationally. By age bracket the threshold varies: for ages 40–54 the top 1% starts around $430K–$470K, while for ages 25–29 it starts around $240K. Household top 1% (two-earner) is much higher, typically above $650K.
What counts as a high income in America?
Conventionally, 'high income' starts at the top 10% — around $135,000 for individual earners nationally, or $190,000+ for households. The IRS 'high income' filing threshold (used for audit statistics) is $200,000. 'Six figures' ($100K+) puts you roughly in the top 18% of individual earners, which feels like a lot but is the new middle-class upper boundary in high cost-of-living metros.
How do I increase my income percentile?
Three moves account for most real-world jumps. (1) Switch jobs: median raise for job switchers is around 14%, vs 3% for stayers. (2) Acquire a skill with market premium: software, sales, data, healthcare specialty, or licensed trades. (3) Add a second income stream: consulting, rentals, or productized service. Climbing from the 50th to the 75th percentile usually takes 3–5 years; from 75th to 90th takes the same time but requires a role change, not just raises.
Income vs net worth — which matters more?
Net worth. Income is a flow; net worth is a stock. A high earner with low savings rate ends up poorer at retirement than a median earner who saves 20%+. Research from The Millionaire Next Door and more recent Federal Reserve data consistently shows that savings rate predicts long-term wealth better than income level. That's why compoundladder leads with net worth percentile, not income.
Why does median income look lower than I expected?
Two reasons. First, individual income (what this calculator uses) is much lower than household income — US median household is ~$80K but individual median is ~$42K because many households have non-working spouses or part-time earners. Second, the full sample includes part-year workers, part-time, and younger earners; full-year full-time workers alone have a median around $62K. Pick the comparison that matches your question.