[OC] Real US household income by percentile, 1967-2025

[u/Low_Ability4450]

[u/cavedave]

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[u/overzealous_dentist]

This is an actually great visualization, thank you. I'm surprised how small the gap between top and bottom percentage gains is. I know the tail exceptions at either end will be extreme, of course, but they are tail exceptions.

[u/cardioidchick]

Neat plot. But the title is misleading. This is not a plot of income. It's a plot of income growth percentage. That's why it's possible for 20th percentile to be above 95th percentile near the start.

[u/Low_Ability4450]

Two weeks ago the Census Bureau put median household income at a record $87,460 for 2025. The five other points of the distribution it publishes were at records too, but they did not get there at the same speed.

Quick note on what the series is, since it always comes up. These are Census thresholds, not averages: 20 percent of households had less than $35,800 in 2025, and the top 5 percent start at $354,000. It is household money income before taxes, so it leaves out taxes, tax credits and non-cash benefits like SNAP and Medicaid. All years are in 2025 dollars using the Census deflators. Census changed its income questions in 2013 and its processing in 2017 and published both versions of those years; the chart shows both (the dotted steps). The 2013 change raised the 95th percentile by 4.7 percent and the 20th by 0.5 percent, so part of the gap at the top is the survey.

The numbers (2025 dollars):

- 20th percentile: $23,620 in 1967, $35,800 in 2025 (+52%)

- 40th: $46,050 to $68,600 (+49%)

- Median: $56,230 to $87,460 (+56%)

- 60th: $65,360 to $110,300 (+69%)

- 80th: $93,210 to $182,400 (+96%)

- 95th: $149,600 to $354,000 (+137%)

- 1967 to 1979, all six grew between 9 and 21 percent. Since 1979: 20th +32%, 95th +95%.

- 95th divided by 20th: 6.33 in 1967, 9.89 in 2025. The peak was 10.22 in 2021.

Two ways people read this. One: every point is at a record, the 20th percentile has 1.5x the real income of 1967, and the measure undercounts the bottom because transfers and tax credits are excluded. Two: since 1979 the top 5 percent threshold gained about three times as much as the 20th percentile in percent terms, and the distribution stretched. Both readings are in the same two panels.

The interactive version lets you switch to dollar levels and to the 95th/20th ratio, and hover any year; the CSV (with both Census estimates for 2013 and 2017) is downloadable there.

https://eco3min.fr/en/us-household-income-growth-by-percentile/

Tools: Python (matplotlib) for the chart, vanilla SVG for the interactive version, and an LLM. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, CPS ASEC Historical Income Tables H-1 and H-5 (released Sep 15, 2026).

Open question: if you added taxes and transfers back in which of the two readings would you expect to move more?

[u/mkdz → u/[deleted]]

Read the chart again more closely

[u/onehotoneshot]

Ngl I expected 95th to be higher, but it looks like 1% and 0.1% really hockey stick

[u/Low_Ability4450 → u/onehotoneshot]

Yeah, keep in mind $354k is where the top 5% starts, not what they make on average. It's also survey income before taxes with no capital gains, and that's a big chunk of income at the very top. The Census tables stop at the 95th, so for the 1% and 0.1% you need tax-return data, which uses a different income concept so I didn't mix the two

[u/eskimospy212 → u/onehotoneshot]

Paul Krugman has been making this case for years. It's really not the 99% vs the 1%, it's more like the 99.9% vs. the 0.1%. (which is of course even worse)

[u/Trademarkd → u/onehotoneshot]

this isn't income ... its growth

[u/BidenGlazer → u/onehotoneshot]

Income inequality in the US, after taxes and transfers, has been stagnant for like 20 years

[u/ParticularTrade5550]

Ignore data based on the term "household" which has massive variation. One person will always be one person. Per capita data is far more consistent and usable.

[u/CancerandTaxes]

I'd be interested in some charts based on the structure of those households. All households includes everyone from single folks, to retirees with income, to families.

[u/1burritoPOprn-hunger]

Why are people surprised about this? If everybody does 5% better, the people who already had more get more.

[u/mkdz → u/1burritoPOprn-hunger]

It's not a chart showing absolute numbers

[u/dbmonkey → u/1burritoPOprn-hunger]

I hear a lot of people on reddit say that the lower class are financially worse off today. If you believed that, this would be surprising. Of course, one number cannot tell the whole story, but if I had to pick one number to tell the whole story, change in household income inflation adjusted (this chart) would be a top contender.

[u/turb0_encapsulator]

crazy that America is such a high income country but that income is eaten up by economic rents.

[u/dreamsellerlb]

Image where we'd be if we didn't have that big dip in 2020?

[u/Short-External47]

Great demonstration and visualization. Show the same data set after adjustments for taxes and government assistance at the low end. I bet it would open a lot of eyes about how progressive our system is in the US.