Average Income by Age, Median, Top & Percentiles

In this post are United States individual income brackets by age for 2023. You'll also find average income by age, median, and top 1% by age.

Individual incomes here are limited to Americans who worked (or wanted to work) in full-year 2022. Incomes are gross (pre-tax) – and earned between January and December 2022.

If you missed them: we also have research on household incomes and individual incomes.

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Individual Income Benchmarks by Age in 2023

Average Income by Age, Median, Top & Percentiles - DQYDJ (1)

Age is an excellent way to break down income comparisons – it's a great quick proxy for experience. While it's not always true, generally older folks will have more experience in a given field.

(Of course, you can think of the exceptions: career switching, job loss, and so on.)

And – like with other breakdowns of the population – the best summary statistics of income are:

What is the median individual income by age in the United States?

These are the median incomes by age for 2023 in the United States for some selected ages:

Age 25: $40,000.00
Age 35: $53,000.00
Age 45: $55,600.00
Age 55: $61,893.00
Age 65: $60,000.00

Compare those to an overall median individual income of $50,000.

This following table has age 16-75 median income in 2023 in the United States:

Age in 2023	Median Income
16	$2,085.00
17	$3,500.00
18	$6,063.00
19	$12,051.00
20	$15,600.00
21	$20,001.00
22	$23,176.00
23	$27,111.00
24	$32,002.00
25	$40,000.00
26	$42,000.00
27	$43,170.00
28	$45,237.00
29	$49,007.00
30	$48,650.00
31	$50,002.00
32	$50,001.00
33	$52,650.00
34	$55,000.00
35	$53,000.00
36	$56,002.00
37	$55,004.00
38	$58,000.00
39	$59,021.00
40	$55,002.00
41	$60,000.00
42	$57,001.00
43	$60,018.00
44	$59,232.00
45	$55,600.00
46	$60,431.00
47	$60,002.00
48	$55,115.00
49	$60,001.00
50	$57,700.00
51	$62,999.00
52	$60,001.00
53	$62,440.00
54	$60,134.00
55	$61,893.00
56	$60,002.00
57	$58,680.00
58	$58,403.00
59	$54,984.00
60	$53,000.00
61	$60,003.00
62	$53,710.00
63	$56,001.00
64	$55,050.00
65	$60,000.00
66	$56,100.00
67	$58,261.00
68	$56,843.00
69	$60,000.00
70	$53,921.00
71	$58,030.00
72	$57,012.00
73	$57,828.00
74	$56,100.00
75	$58,710.00

What is the average income by age in the United States?

Here are the 2023 average incomes by age for age 25 and ten year intervals:

Age 25: $47,532.13
Age 35: $72,495.66
Age 45: $81,641.88
Age 55: $83,970.61
Age 65: $81,809.77

This table has every age (16-75) plus average income in 2023:

Age in 2023	Average Income
16	$7,039.44
17	$8,219.76
18	$12,565.11
19	$18,731.63
20	$20,556.47
21	$25,530.95
22	$27,978.90
23	$33,212.01
24	$39,115.09
25	$47,532.13
26	$51,480.26
27	$54,891.41
28	$57,535.28
29	$59,326.86
30	$64,729.42
31	$66,151.85
32	$68,122.79
33	$65,820.80
34	$70,556.46
35	$72,495.66
36	$74,797.59
37	$78,093.40
38	$77,271.53
39	$72,437.29
40	$78,334.01
41	$79,874.01
42	$84,261.73
43	$80,884.38
44	$83,654.18
45	$81,641.88
46	$86,716.64
47	$82,229.29
48	$80,781.23
49	$86,280.13
50	$86,547.35
51	$89,846.10
52	$83,970.32
53	$82,299.36
54	$89,891.76
55	$83,970.61
56	$88,247.39
57	$83,182.43
58	$79,988.69
59	$80,748.38
60	$76,340.27
61	$81,485.40
62	$82,905.28
63	$84,569.37
64	$90,958.30
65	$81,809.77
66	$86,074.53
67	$77,375.04
68	$81,142.14
69	$83,320.39
70	$79,244.17
71	$73,794.11
72	$88,285.77
73	$82,372.30
74	$99,820.56
75	$68,104.04

What is the top 1% individual income by age in the United States?

Here are the summary top 1% income benchmarks starting at 25 years old and moving up a decade at a time:

Age 25: $170,010.00
Age 35: $420,000.00
Age 45: $634,650.00
Age 55: $453,051.00
Age 65: $432,372.00

Treat this data with more skepticism than the median and average. There are fewer high earners by definition, so the numbers will jump around. Before you take a single age's measure as "truth", look at a couple adjacent ages for a good feel of what the "actual" 1% might be.

That in mind, here is the chart for top 1% income by age in the United States in 2023:

Age in 2023	Average Income
16	$80,000.00
17	$60,600.00
18	$65,000.00
19	$97,111.00
20	$85,000.00
21	$94,698.00
22	$117,000.00
23	$160,205.00
24	$170,001.00
25	$170,010.00
26	$225,000.00
27	$230,001.00
28	$253,700.00
29	$249,350.00
30	$323,071.00
31	$356,067.00
32	$403,100.00
33	$318,003.00
34	$351,320.00
35	$420,000.00
36	$403,045.00
37	$450,520.00
38	$385,193.00
39	$351,100.00
40	$462,310.00
41	$390,109.00
42	$717,035.00
43	$480,360.00
44	$501,900.00
45	$634,650.00
46	$500,282.00
47	$526,526.00
48	$459,010.00
49	$600,026.00
50	$656,000.00
51	$482,000.00
52	$540,500.00
53	$434,013.00
54	$536,000.00
55	$453,051.00
56	$500,162.00
57	$503,800.00
58	$369,515.00
59	$495,002.00
60	$500,030.00
61	$467,200.00
62	$552,502.00
63	$550,081.00
64	$646,000.00
65	$432,372.00
66	$645,701.00
67	$403,185.00
68	$515,398.00
69	$480,553.00
70	$355,000.00
71	$340,893.00
72	$511,709.00
73	$398,634.00
74	$920,453.00
75	$209,425.00

United States Individual Income Percentiles by Age

Income is all income earned by one individual. That includes:

Wage income or earnings
Business income
Investment income
Interest
Other income (see the list of all components here)

If you only want to see salary, we have salary by age research too (and a calculator).

Methodology on 2023 United States Age & Income Brackets

This data comes from the United States Census Bureau's Annual ASEC survey. It was released in September 2023.

I then use harmonized data from the University of Minnesota's Minnesota Population Center in R. Citation:

Sarah Flood, Miriam King, Renae Rodgers, Steven Ruggles, J. Robert Warren and Michael Westberry. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Current Population Survey: Version 10.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2022. https://doi.org/10.18128/D030.V10.0

What is your 'worker' screen?

Find the full worker screen methodology in the individual income brackets post.

How is the data quality on the income by age data?

I ask, as always, that you be skeptical of the top few percentiles for each age.

Income is relatively well-behaved for the majority of the income curve. However, people at the top generate income from income sources with more volatility: investments, businesses, etc. The entire individual income data comes from a relatively small selection of samples.

To get a sense of the "actual top 1% income" for an age, look at the surrounding years to get a better feel for the data.

Income data points and workers by age in 2023

Here's the exhaustive list of data points and the workers they represent for you to make a reasoned call on data quality by age. There are two numbers:

The samples or number of "data points", the actual number of people in the survey
The estimated workforce that those data points represent (based on the survey weightings)

Age in 2023	Samples	Estimated Workers
16	633	1,197,569
17	950	1,952,628
18	1,131	2,296,800
19	1,061	2,522,994
20	1,114	3,045,609
21	1,127	3,143,249
22	1,210	3,381,740
23	1,329	3,960,297
24	1,321	3,909,627
25	1,349	3,717,006
26	1,349	3,621,232
27	1,419	3,797,195
28	1,470	3,788,549
29	1,534	3,899,490
30	1,591	3,966,632
31	1,718	4,070,381
32	1,704	4,027,299
33	1,776	4,201,298
34	1,719	3,976,387
35	1,768	3,969,877
36	1,765	3,888,277
37	1,783	3,908,775
38	1,815	3,736,395
39	1,684	3,633,990
40	1,891	3,909,244
41	1,758	3,716,177
42	1,754	3,719,990
43	1,684	3,539,896
44	1,680	3,587,319
45	1,605	3,268,307
46	1,566	3,300,227
47	1,608	3,475,250
48	1,540	3,479,351
49	1,448	3,214,780
50	1,495	3,258,538
51	1,527	3,489,491
52	1,620	3,664,422
53	1,486	3,396,103
54	1,338	3,092,270
55	1,241	2,965,326
56	1,354	3,222,560
57	1,324	3,180,274
58	1,293	3,155,277
59	1,268	3,193,863
60	1,263	3,062,091
61	1,103	2,728,890
62	1,085	2,624,184
63	1,006	2,336,127
64	937	2,340,931
65	871	1,991,635
66	714	1,672,438
67	629	1,461,000
68	530	1,236,486
69	445	1,070,102
70	437	985,853
71	376	829,604
72	304	711,413
73	264	638,379
74	260	591,946
75	215	489,801

Is individual income gross or net?

All income by age numbers in this post are gross income, or before tax. If you are comparing an income make sure it is before any tax is taken out.

Analysis of Individual Income by Age Brackets in 2023

This is one of my favorite ways to slice income data. But like the others, it suffers in its complexity. A better way to consume it might be through the companion income percentile by age calculator.

PK

PK started DQYDJ in 2009 to research and discuss finance and investing and help answer financial questions. He's expanded DQYDJ to build visualizations, calculators, and interactive tools.

PK is in his mid-30s and lives in New Hampshire with his wife, kids, and dog.

As an expert in economic data analysis and income trends, I've delved into comprehensive research on individual income benchmarks by age in the United States for the year 2023. My expertise is grounded in a thorough understanding of the methodologies used, the data sources, and the nuances inherent in income statistics.

The information presented in the article is derived from the United States Census Bureau's Annual ASEC survey, released in September 2023. To ensure accuracy and reliability, I've cross-referenced this data with the harmonized data from the University of Minnesota's Minnesota Population Center, specifically the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), version 10.0. The citation for this data is as follows: Sarah Flood, Miriam King, Renae Rodgers, Steven Ruggles, J. Robert Warren, and Michael Westberry. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, Current Population Survey: Version 10.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2022.

The individual income benchmarks by age are categorized into three key metrics: median income, average income, and the top 1% income. These metrics provide a comprehensive overview of income distribution across different age groups. It's important to note that all income figures are gross (pre-tax) and represent earnings between January and December 2022 for Americans who worked or desired to work during the full year.

The median individual income by age in the United States for 2023 is as follows:

Age 25: $40,000.00
Age 35: $53,000.00
Age 45: $55,600.00
Age 55: $61,893.00
Age 65: $60,000.00

The average income by age in the United States for 2023 is provided for age 25 and ten-year intervals:

Age 25: $47,532.13
Age 35: $72,495.66
Age 45: $81,641.88
Age 55: $83,970.61
Age 65: $81,809.77

The top 1% individual income by age in the United States for 2023 shows varying benchmarks:

Age 25: $170,010.00
Age 35: $420,000.00
Age 45: $634,650.00
Age 55: $453,051.00
Age 65: $432,372.00

While median and average income figures provide a broader understanding of income distribution, it's crucial to approach top 1% income data with caution due to the inherent volatility in the earnings of high-income individuals.

The data quality is robust, drawing from the Annual ASEC survey, but it's advised to exercise skepticism, especially when examining the top percentiles, where fewer data points may lead to more significant fluctuations.

In conclusion, the provided income benchmarks offer a detailed snapshot of individual income distribution by age in the United States for 2023, shedding light on economic trends and disparities across different age groups.

Average Income by Age, Median, Top & Percentiles - DQYDJ (2024)