Try the Income Percentile Calculator to see if your income can beat the average American income for every age group.
I’ll share the income percentile calculator results for the average person in the United States, and what is the income for the top 1 percent American.
We’ll also talk about how unequal income is in America, and why it’s getting harder to retire if you are not in the top 10% of income.
Income Percentile Calculator
Enter your age and your annual income, before taxes, into the income percentile calculator to see your income percentile for your age group.
What is your income percentile? Do you think the income percentile calculator accurately represents how you feel about your income? Comment below!
What is the Average American Income?
The average American income is $55,373 if you add up everyone’s income and divide it by the total number of people,
However, this is not a great way to understand “average” income.
Why? Because the average income between myself and Jeff Bezos, who makes many millions of dollars a year, is many millions of dollars, which is much more skewed toward Bezos and not at all related to me!
Therefore, the “average” is not a good measure of how much ordinary Americans make, on “average”.
Instead, we look at the median income of Americans. If you rank everyone’s income from the largest to the smallest, we will take the income of the person that is right smack in the middle.
So what is the median American income? The median American income is $39,100, a more accurate representation of “average”.
Income Percentile By Age
If you put in every age and salary into the income percentile calculator, you get the following results.
Note: scroll to the right to view all income percentiles
| Age | 10th Percentile | 25th Percentile | 50th Percentile | 75th Percentile | 90th Percentile | 95th Percentile | 96th Percentile | 97th Percentile | 98th Percentile | 99th Percentile |
| 20 | $2,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 | $18,000 | $26,000 | $33,300 | $35,200 | $40,000 | $43,800 | $53,000 |
| 25 | $8,200 | $15,600 | $26,200 | $40,000 | $60,000 | $73,000 | $78,000 | $83,800 | $95,000 | $115,000 |
| 30 | $12,000 | $20,800 | $35,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 | $100,000 | $110,000 | $120,000 | $140,000 | $177,000 |
| 35 | $13,000 | $24,000 | $40,000 | $66,500 | $100,300 | $135,000 | $150,000 | $170,000 | $200,000 | $315,000 |
| 40 | $13,000 | $24,500 | $42,000 | $70,500 | $115,000 | $150,000 | $170,000 | $200,000 | $250,000 | $418,000 |
| 45 | $14,000 | $25,900 | $45,500 | $78,000 | $121,000 | $172,000 | $197,600 | $225,000 | $315,000 | $429,000 |
| 50 | $14,000 | $25,000 | $45,000 | $77,000 | $122,000 | $171,000 | $194,240 | $225,000 | $312,000 | $426,001 |
| 55 | $14,000 | $26,000 | $46,000 | $78,000 | $125,120 | $179,000 | $200,000 | $238,000 | $339,000 | $426,000 |
| 60 | $14,000 | $26,000 | $46,000 | $78,000 | $126,000 | $185,000 | $205,000 | $250,000 | $349,000 | $434,000 |
| 65 | $16,000 | $26,800 | $46,600 | $80,000 | $130,600 | $194,000 | $218,000 | $260,450 | $349,000 | $428,000 |
| 70 | $17,900 | $29,000 | $48,900 | $86,000 | $150,200 | $216,000 | $247,900 | $297,300 | $376,000 | $473,900 |
| 75 | $18,000 | $27,550 | $44,700 | $78,690 | $147,900 | $239,000 | $289,100 | $353,000 | $405,000 | $485,752 |
| 80 | $17,000 | $25,600 | $39,900 | $68,000 | $144,880 | $269,800 | $319,000 | $378,000 | $438,700 | $536,000 |
The table above shows that at the lower percentiles, income is pretty much the same, doesn’t increase as the person gets older.
But for those at the highest income percentiles, their income increases quite drastically in their 20s and 30s, not surprising given these are prime earning years.
Why aim for top 10% of income and maybe even income in the top one percent
Let’s say a person remains at a particular income percentile even as she ages. How does this person’s income (say, always at 50% percentile) change as the person age?
Based on the income percentile calculator, we get the following graph (note: scroll to the right if you are on a smaller screen to look at the whole graph).
Each line represents a specific income percentile, with the x-axis showing age (older from left to right), and the y-axis showing the actual income (higher from top to bottom)
The graph above shows that people below the 90th income percentile make about the same amount of money all of their lives.
And here is the big insight:
People with income above the 90th percentile, or, people in the top 10% of income, and particularly the top 1% of income, see their income increase dramatically in their 20s and 30s and peak in their 40s.
Of course, this is the story of the “average” American. You don’t have to be average. Indeed, many people make very little money in their 20s and 30s, only to peak much later in life: think a doctor who went to school for many years, only started to practice in her late 30s.
And also remember: this is data from people who have earned an income. Plenty of Americans have gotten rich through building businesses and those successes would not show up in this income data. And entrepreneurs often struggle for many years without much income before businesses suddenly taking off, or before they encounter a successful sale or “exit” or their business.
My point is, while the average is important as it applies to many people, it isn’t the only way to FatFire.
The other side of the story is also true though. For many people whose income never took off in their 20s and 30s, they fall further behind. This is part of the story told. by my inequality guide, where I explain how the top one percent have been the ones hoarding all the money.
How Many People Make Over $400K?
Democrates seem to think that the top one percent income earners should be taxed heavily, which is why President Biden even proposed at one point a tax plan to raise taxes on those making above $400K.
According to the income calculator above, it is indeed true that only the top 1% make above $400K a year. More than that, the graph above shows the top 1% only starts to make above $400K well into their 30s and later.
I estimate that out of the three hundred million Americans living in the United States today, only a million make over $400K per year in come.
If we assume that these one million people who make more than $400K a year live across 200 U.S. cities, then on average, we have about 5,000 people living in any one city, though many more will live in high cost of living (HCOL) areas such as New York City and San Francisco.
When we look at it this way, we realize how scarce these high income earners are.
How Many People Make Over $100K?
Roughly speaking, only the top 10% of the income earners in the U.S. eventually make more than $100K a year.
Using the same assumption above, I think roughly ten million people in the U.S. make more than $100K a year.
Summary: Income Percentile Calculator
There are many ways to make more money. And they don’t always involve back-bending, brain-wrecking work.
By using the income percentile calculator, you can see where you sit IF you want to make money via income.
But wherever you sit, know that this is not the end.
More important than income, you have to know how to save more money, and invest your savings for a very long time in order to get rich.
Many people who make $400K a year end up spending most of it. That gets you nowhere. Only by maximizing both income and savings does one achieve financial freedom.
What job or business do you have? And how much are you making in income? Comment below!
What’s Next?
Are you putting all of your income into mortgage? Reconsider! Read the 2-series guide: Stocks vs Real Estate: Never Buy a House as Investment
Learn what the Average American Ne Worth is by reading What’s the Average Net Worth by Age? Use This Calculator to Find Out
Understand why America is increasingly harder to get rich.Check out How to Make Money Despite Wealth Inequality
