About the Income Percentile Calculator
This income percentile calculator shows where your household income ranks among all US households. Enter your total household income before taxes and it estimates your percentile — the share of households earning less than you — using the household income percentile cutoffs the U.S. Census Bureau published in Income in the United States: 2025, based on the 2026 Current Population Survey (CPS ASEC).
It is useful for answering "am I rich?", benchmarking a job offer, or putting a raise into perspective. The calculator also compares your income with the national median of $87,460 and with the median for households whose householder is in your age group, because a 30-year-old and a 55-year-old are usually at very different points in their earnings.
Census money income counts wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest, dividends and other cash income for everyone in the household, before taxes. It excludes capital gains and non-cash benefits. Between published percentiles the rank is interpolated; above the 95th percentile ($354,000) the Census Bureau publishes no cutoffs, so the calculator estimates the top tail with a Pareto curve fitted to the 90th and 95th percentiles.
With the default inputs, the your income percentile is 55.5. Change any value above to recalculate instantly.
How to use the income percentile calculator
- 1Add up the yearly before-tax income of everyone in your household.
- 2Enter it in the household income field.
- 3Optionally pick the householder’s age group to compare with peers.
- 4Read your percentile and how you compare with the national median.
- 5Check the cutoff table to see the income needed for higher percentiles.
Formula and method
The Census Bureau publishes the household income at the 10th, 20th, 30th … 90th and 95th percentiles. Your income I is placed between the two published cutoffs that surround it (v₀ at percentile p₀ and v₁ at p₁) and your percentile is interpolated in a straight line between them. Below the 10th percentile the line runs from $0.
Above the 95th percentile there are no published cutoffs, so the calculator assumes the top of the distribution follows a Pareto (power-law) curve, which is the standard way economists model high incomes. The curve’s index α ≈ 2.28 is fitted so that it passes exactly through the published 90th and 95th percentiles. Results above the 95th percentile are therefore estimates, and the percentile is capped at 99.9.
- I
- Your household income before tax
- v₀, v₁
- Published income cutoffs just below and above I
- p₀, p₁
- The percentiles of those cutoffs
- α
- Pareto tail index (≈ 2.28)
Worked examples
$100,000 household income
$100,000 sits between the 50th percentile ($87,460) and the 60th ($110,300). It is $12,540 of the $22,840 gap, so the percentile is 50 + 5.49 ≈ 55.5. That is 1.14 times the national median; reaching the 65.5th percentile would take about $127,100.
$200,000 household, householder aged 35–44
$200,000 is $17,600 above the 80th percentile cutoff ($182,400) in a $78,900 gap to the 90th, giving about the 82.2nd percentile. Compared with the $114,100 median for householders aged 35–44, it is about 1.75 times typical income for that age.
$500,000 household income (top tail)
Above $354,000 the Pareto tail is used: (500,000 ÷ 354,000)^(−2.283) ≈ 0.455, so the share of households above you is 5% × 0.455 ≈ 2.3%. That puts a $500,000 household at roughly the 97.7th percentile.
$15,000 household income
Below the 10th percentile cutoff of $20,010 the percentile is interpolated from $0, so $15,000 ÷ $20,010 × 10 ≈ 7.5. That is about 17% of the national median household income.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median household income in the US?+
The Census Bureau’s latest estimate is $87,460 for 2025, from Income in the United States: 2025. Half of all US households had money income above that amount and half below it.
What income puts you in the top 10% in the US?+
For households, the 90th percentile cutoff in 2025 was $261,300 and the 95th percentile was $354,000, according to Census Table 6 of the 2025 income report. Individual earnings cutoffs are lower because many households have two earners.
What income is top 1% in the US?+
The Census Bureau does not publish a 99th percentile from the CPS. Fitting a Pareto curve to its 90th and 95th percentiles suggests roughly $716,000 of household income; tax-data studies that include capital gains often put the top 1% threshold higher.
Should I use gross or net income?+
Use gross (before-tax) income. Census money income is measured before taxes and other deductions, so entering take-home pay would understate your rank.
Does this calculator account for where I live?+
No. The ranking is national. The same income ranks lower in high-cost metros such as San Francisco or New York than in rural areas, so treat it as a national benchmark rather than a measure of local purchasing power.
Why compare by age group?+
Income follows a life-cycle pattern. In 2025 the median household with a householder aged 45–54 earned $120,100, while households aged 15–24 had a median of $60,870 and those 65 and older $59,680, mostly because of retirement.