Individual Income by Year: Average, Median, One Percent, and a Percentile Calculator

On this page is the United States average individual income by year and median individual income by year between 1962 and 2026, as well as the top 5% and 10% income thresholds.

You'll also find the top 1% individual income by year between 1996 and 2026. Additionally, find an income by year calculator just below so you can compare two years, with or without inflation adjustments.

Looking for households instead? See household income by year.

Individual income percentile by year calculator

Note: survey years refer to income earned in the previous full year. For example, 2026 refers to income earned between January and December 2025. Other sources may label it by the year the income was earned.

Individual income percentile statistics from 1962-2026

These graphs summarize the average, median, top 1%, top 5%, and top 10% individual income by year from 1962-2026. The first one is inflation adjusted, while the second is not.

Top 1% is a tricky one – aggressive top-coding (and I haven't built the methodology to repopulate data there) means our data isn't immediately useful in raw form before 1996. See the notes section below for more details.

Median individual income by year

This table shows the median individual income per year in the United States back to 1962.

Average individual income by year

This table includes the average individual income per year in the United States, including both inflation-adjusted and nominal numbers.

Note: Yes, the 1% top-coding challenges affect the average to some degree. However, this data is reasonably close.

Top 10% individual income by year

This table summarizes the top 10% individual income by year in the US. As in other tables, you'll find both non inflation-adjusted and inflation-adjusted numbers.

Top 5% individual income by year

Below I've listed the estimated top 5% individual income per year in the United States. You'll again find both inflation adjusted and nominal numbers.

Top 1% individual income by year

Here is the top 1% individual income by year in the US, from 1996 on.

See the FAQ note below regarding 1962-1995 top 1% income data. And before you get there, remember the 1% threshold is estimated from a small and rarefied sample. While spikes in survey years 2001 and 2009 (read: income earned in full-year 2000 and 2008) and the falls that follow may be partly real, assume any single-year swings are noisy. There is also a break in 2011 – see the FAQ below.

Other individual income by year questions

Where is the top 1% income level for 1995 and earlier data?

The Census Bureau changed its top coding procedure for the 1996 survey, moving from hard top codes to replacement values. To keep the methodology constant, I don't attempt to model the top 1% for that time-frame – you'll have to look elsewhere.

Yes, this affects average income some small amount as well. In your head, assume average income is a few dollars more per year before 1996.

Why is there a disconnect in top 1% data after 2010?

The top 1% series has a discontinuity from 2010-2011. The Census Bureau switched from replacing top-coded incomes with averages to rank proximity swapping. Treat 1996-2010 and 2011 onward as separate series.

What income is included?

Individual income here is the IPUMS INCTOT variable – total pre-tax money income in the prior calendar year. That includes wages, business and farm income, Social Security, SSI, public assistance, pensions/retirement income, interest, dividends, rent, unemployment, workers' comp, veterans' benefits, and child support.

It does not include realized capital gains, noncash benefits (SNAP, housing assistance, Medicare/Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance), or refundable tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. Additionally, these numbers are not adjusted for taxes paid.

What other calculators and pages do you have?

There's a whole calculator page here if you're keen, but for something more topical...

Use the income growth by percentile tool to see how percentiles changed relative to each other. See our individual income calculator and research. Also, see our net worth calculator and net worth by age calculator.

Source and methodology on the individual income by year data

Sarah Flood, Miriam King, Renae Rodgers, Steven Ruggles, J. Robert Warren, Daniel Backman, Etienne Breton, Grace Cooper, Julia A. Rivera Drew, Stephanie Richards, David Van Riper, and Kari C.W. Williams. IPUMS CPS: Version 13.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2025. https://doi.org/10.18128/D030.V13.0

The methodology here is different than our individual income research and individual income calculator. In this version, for older years, I only use variables which are available back to 1962. People who show up in either of these measures made the screen:

• LABFORCE – A snapshot of labor force participation in the previous week
• WKSWORK2 – Buckets of weeks worked in the previous year (I used 1-52 here)

Starting in 2021, I use the more extensive screen (including people who "Want" to work – see the annual posts for more).

Notes on workforce size and data quality

Interested in the workforce size by year? I've got you.

Please note this is a different number than the instantaneous workforce which you might find in a monthly survey. It's basically anyone who worked at all in the previous year.

Care about data quality? Well then... you should run the numbers yourself and apply your own personal biases screens. I have summarized the samples here so you can see what we're working with.

* 1962 & 1963 undercount the workforce – IPUMS's income variable only covers part of the sample in those years. Assume the workforce was actually closer in size to 1964 and beyond.

**2014 was a special year in the ASEC. The Census Bureau tweaked their income questions [PDF]. The data in this post uses the whole sample, which blends the methodologies together.

Does it matter? Depends on your use case.

Inflation vs. individual income by year

Inflation is... controversial.

Each table has two inflation-adjusted columns: one uses the plain CPI-U, from the IPUMS CPI99 table (Table 1). The second, which the calculator and charts use, applies chained CPI-U for income years 2000 on, the R-CPI-U-RS for 1978 to 1999, and the CPI-U-X1 before that – the preferred adjustment methodology of the Census Bureau. Survey years 1962-1967 extend that back with the CPI-U, matching the Census Bureau. The most recent year uses the preliminary chained CPI-U – numbers may shift once the Bureau of Labor Statistics finalizes it.

Inflation is meant to be one number summarizing the aggregate change in cost of a basket of goods over time. It – by definition – won't apply to every person equally. It follows, then, that it won't apply to every income bracket equally. Heck, just picking the right inflation adjustment is controversial... I couldn't even choose for this post, so you get two!

The upper percentiles – comprised of people who generally save more money – are affected less by inflation than the middle of the curve.

Of course, any illustrative example is also a generalization and a dodge. For example, since the 1980s, people consuming more education and medical care experience more "inflation" than others.

We need to account for inflation somehow. And no, there isn't a fair way to do it across the spectrum. Just know that the math is fuzzy.

Conclusions on individual income percentile by year

Unlike with households, it's easier to compare individuals over time (but note things like the age of workforce change).

As with the household data, we also don't have the best view into the top 1% before 1996. (But we do have plenty of years to scoff at!)

The top-coding and methodology changes in the 1990s muddy the waters some, but the tool is very useful especially for the 95th percentile and below.

Limits to the data

This data isn't longitudinal. The top 1%, for example, doesn't always comprise the same people.

To see what I mean, look at the workforce table: the top 1% actually comprises about twice as many individuals near the end as in the mid-1960s, while also increasing in dollar value.

The takeaway: we've seen broad gains across the income spectrum. However – using the ASEC data in this tool and the charts – we can't trace individuals up and down over the years.