Median Household Income by Age (2025)
The middle family’s income before tax at each age, from the Federal Reserve’s 2025 survey: half earn more, half less. Plus the change since 2022, after inflation.
Empty: all ages
Last year, before tax; a couple’s combined. Stays on this device.
ExampleYour rank, ages 35–44
50thpercentile
More income than about 50% of families headed by someone aged 35–44.
- $500K or more3%
- $300K–$500K3%
- $200K–$300K11%
- $150K–$200K10%
- $100K–$150K21%
- $75K–$100KYou12%
- $50K–$75K15%
- $25K–$50K17%
- Under $25K8%
- Median, ages 35–44
- $97,000
- Top 10% starts at
- $240K
- Among all ages
- 57th percentile
Compares your number with a survey of US families; not financial advice. SourcesTerms
What counts as incomeA family’s, before tax, as the Federal Reserve measures it
The family’s, not one person’s. The survey adds up the income of the single person or couple who run the household and anyone who shares their finances. A couple should enter both incomes together; one salary on its own will rank lower than the household really stands.
Before tax, from every source: wages and salaries, business and farm income, interest and dividends, realized capital gains, Social Security, pensions and withdrawals from retirement accounts, unemployment and other benefits, alimony and child support.
Last year’s. Families in the 2025 survey reported their income for 2024, which the Fed expresses in 2025 dollars. Last year’s income before tax is the closest match.
How this works: Method, 6 sources, Checked against 2 worked examples,
How this works
Method
Your family’s income before tax is placed among US families whose reference person is your age, on the 1st to 99th percentiles of the Federal Reserve’s 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, reading between the two nearest percentiles. We work the percentiles out from the Fed’s public data file, weighting each family and pooling the survey’s five imputations as the Fed does; our medians and means match the Fed’s own public-data tables to the dollar. Income is for 2024, in 2025 dollars; medians quoted on the page are the Fed’s published figures.
Sources
- Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances (Federal Reserve Bulletin, 2026)
- Survey of Consumer Finances 2025, summary extract public data (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2026)
- SCF historic tables based on public data, in 2025 dollars (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2026)
- SCF historic tables based on internal data, in 2025 dollars (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2026)
- Survey of Consumer Finances 2025 codebook (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2026)
- Survey of Consumer Finances: frequently asked questions (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)
How it’s tested
2 worked examples for this page are checked by automated tests before every release: given the inputs, the tool must show the expected answer.
Limits
Compares your number with a survey of US families; not financial advice.
Changes
- First published, on the Fed’s 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances: your income percentile for your age, the median by age since 1989, and two by-age pages.
Worked example: the 55–64 median
The Fed’s median family income for ages 55–64 is $92,400. Enter 60 and that amount above and the tool puts it at the 50th percentile of that age group: half the families earn more and half less. In 2022 the same median was $89,700 in today’s dollars, so it rose 3% after inflation, the same as the group’s mean.
Median household income by age, 2022 and 2025
Median family income before taxes in 2025 dollars, by age of the reference person. Federal Reserve Bulletin, October 2026, Table 1.
| Age | 2022 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $66,200 | $67,800 | +2% |
| 35–44 | $94,000 | $97,000 | +3% |
| 45–54 | $100,500 | $108,900 | +8% |
| 55–64 | $89,700 | $92,400 | +3% |
| 65–74 | $66,600 | $69,400 | +4% |
| 75 and over | $53,800 | $66,800 | +24% |
| All families | $76,900 | $82,200 | +7% |
Median income rose in every age group between the 2022 and 2025 surveys. It peaks at 45–54, $108,900, after $97,000 at 35–44 and before $92,400 at 55–64. Families under 35 had a median of $67,800, and the two oldest groups $69,400 and $66,800.
Older families’ incomes include Social Security, pensions and withdrawals from retirement accounts, which is why the median at 75 and over, $66,800, is not far below the youngest group’s. In 1989 the gap was much wider: $34,800 at 75 and over against $52,600 under 35, in today’s dollars.
The longer table shows how slowly typical incomes have grown. The median for all families was $64,900 in 1989 and $74,100 in 2007, fell to $65,000 by 2013 after the recession, and was back above its 2007 level only in 2019. The 2025 median of $82,200 is the highest the survey has recorded.
Median household income by age since 1989 (2025 dollars)
| Survey | All | <35 | 35–44 | 45–54 | 55–64 | 65–74 | 75+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $82K | $68K | $97K | $109K | $92K | $69K | $67K |
| 2022 | $77K | $66K | $94K | $101K | $90K | $67K | $54K |
| 2019 | $74K | $62K | $94K | $99K | $81K | $64K | $55K |
| 2016 | $71K | $55K | $89K | $94K | $82K | $68K | $54K |
| 2013 | $65K | $49K | $85K | $85K | $77K | $64K | $40K |
| 2010 | $68K | $52K | $81K | $91K | $82K | $64K | $44K |
| 2007 | $74K | $59K | $89K | $101K | $86K | $61K | $36K |
| 2004 | $74K | $57K | $86K | $105K | $94K | $57K | $41K |
| 2001 | $73K | $61K | $94K | $100K | $83K | $51K | $41K |
| 1998 | $67K | $55K | $84K | $101K | $77K | $49K | $33K |
Show all 13 rowsShow fewer
| 1995 | $65K | $54K | $81K | $85K | $72K | $41K | $34K |
| 1992 | $60K | $56K | $81K | $95K | $67K | $41K | $31K |
| 1989 | $65K | $53K | $92K | $97K | $67K | $41K | $35K |
What the median is, and how it compares with the Census
The median is the middle family. Line every family in an age group up by income and the median is the one in the middle, so a few very high earners don’t move it. That makes it the best single answer to “what does a typical family my age earn?”.
The medians on this page are the Federal Reserve’s own, from its October 2026 Bulletin and its historic tables, all in 2025 dollars so the years compare after inflation. They describe the income each survey’s families had in the year before the interview: 2024 for the 2025 survey.
The survey’s “family” is the person or couple who run the household’s finances plus anyone who depends on them, which the Fed says is closer to what the Census Bureau calls a household. The Census Bureau publishes its own median household income from a different, larger survey with its own questions, so its figures differ somewhat from these.
- The median for all families rose 7% after inflation between the 2022 and 2025 surveys, to $82,200, while the mean fell 6% to $145,200. Source: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances.
- The fall in mean income came from families at the top: leaving out the top 1% of earners, mean income declined only 1%. Source: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances.
- Families 75 and over saw the largest rise, 24%, to a median of $66,800. Source: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances.
Sources
- Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances
- Survey of Consumer Finances 2025, summary extract public data
- SCF historic tables based on public data, in 2025 dollars
- SCF historic tables based on internal data, in 2025 dollars
- Survey of Consumer Finances 2025 codebook
- Survey of Consumer Finances: frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median household income by age in 2025?
Under 35: $67,800. 35–44: $97,000. 45–54: $108,900. 55–64: $92,400. 65–74: $69,400. 75 and over: $66,800. All families: $82,200. These are the Federal Reserve’s figures from the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances: income before tax in 2024, in 2025 dollars.
What is the average (mean) household income by age?
Under 35: $89,000. 35–44: $139,800. 45–54: $187,100. 55–64: $197,600. 65–74: $138,400. 75 and over: $125,100. The mean is pulled up by the highest earners, so most families earn less than it; the median is the fairer yardstick.
Why did mean income fall for families aged 35–44?
The Fed’s report says the 25% fall, from $186,000 to $139,800, was driven by lower capital gains income. Their median rose 3% over the same years, so the typical family in that group did slightly better.
Is this the same as the Census Bureau’s median household income?
No. The Census Bureau’s figure comes from a different survey, counts everyone living in a home as one household and asks about income in its own way, so the two medians are close but not equal. This page uses the Federal Reserve’s survey because it also measures wealth and savings, which lets the same families be compared on income, net worth and retirement savings.