Average Income by Age in 2026 (Where Do You Stand?)

[00:01] going to show you exactly where the bottom 25%, middle 50%, 75th, 90th, and top 1% fall at every single decade of life. This is all according to the most recent data for the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026. And I also will be

[00:17] sharing three goals for every age range that can actually move the needle on your income and your net worth. So whether you're in your 20s, 40s, 60s, or for you in this video. And as always, timestamps will be below. So if you just

[00:30] like to skip below to your age and see how you stack up, you can do that. All can see that the incomes at age 20 versus 29, there's actually a huge difference. That's because at the age of 20, you are still in the education phase

[00:43] starting your career versus at the age of 29, that's a probably better someone who's basically a young professional. Now, the average income, as you can see, at the age of 29 is $73,93.

[00:57] However, I think that the average income can be a little bit misleading at times. That's because averages are calculated by adding up everyone's income and dividing it by the number of people. But a few very high or very low incomes can

[01:09] pull the average away from what most people actually earn. So, in that case, probably the median income for most of America. I would say though, if you are living on the coasts in a high cost of living area such as San Francisco or New

[01:23] percentile of income as a better benchmark. That's because I feel like those incomes in those specific regions are usually a lot higher than just the compare yourself to your cohort, and your cohort is probably in the 75th

[01:37] you can see that most people in their 20s will be earning less than $100,000 per year. And it's only when you hit the top 10% of incomes in the nation that you are well in the six figure mark. Also, $396,000

[01:50] for the top 1% is pretty crazy in your 20s. I think the incomes here are people doing tech. So, software engineers and tech at like one of these big AI firms. Maybe you work at a hedge fund, a private equity shop, or maybe

[02:03] maybe you're just an entrepreneur that just makes a lot of money. There are achieving in your 20s. And the first is to build basic money habits that form a to save tens of thousands of dollars in your 20s. But I think that you should

[02:19] finances. So that means automating a small amount of your regular paycheck starting your first retirement accounts like your 401k or your IRA, and also just having a basic level of tracking for your spending so that you know where

[02:34] two in your 20s is to keep your fixed expenses as light as possible. So, if parents for an extended period of time in your 20s, I think that's even better really good base of money before you move out. If you don't have that luxury,

[02:50] aren't living too lavishly because these days the statistics are pretty crazy. The average car payment is $766 in the are well below that. And the average person spends about 32.8% of their

[03:04] below that number, I think that's even better, too. My last stat for you guys is that the average person also spends about $1,080 per year on subscriptions. So, if you can make sure that you're not going too overboard in any of these

[03:18] housing, fixed expenses, like subscriptions, then you're going to be a number three in your 20s is to prioritize building your skills so that you can increase your income later. That means you might want to job hop early

[03:32] makes sense for you, or you want to build skills and get educational You can also just take on more responsibility at work. I know that are afraid of that because they don't

[03:44] I think that taking on more responsibility will increase your skills your long-term career. In your 20s, your income curve is going to matter way more would encourage you to even maybe take some risks in order to get more

[03:59] right, let's go to the next decade of the 30s. Now, I'm going to use the age of 35 here for our data reference since it's right in the middle of the decade. is now $82,950 and the median sits at 60K exactly. The

[04:14] top 10% is now at 167K per year. And the top 1%, well, they are nearing the highest federal tax bracket. So, fun fact is that the highest federal tax bracket is now for incomes greater than $640,600

[04:27] for the year of 2026. Now, ironically, as your income is increasing in your 30s, this is the decade where people lose the most ground financially. That's quickly. You usually start a family in your 30s. You're having big life events

[04:40] and you just might find yourself a little bit stretched thin in many are three goals in your 30s as well. So, goal number one in your 30s is to really make sure you avoid this lifestyle creep. It's tempting to upgrade your

[04:53] lifestyle as your income grows, but if you're overspending on cars, homes, or luxury items, this can quickly slow down your progress towards financial freedom. increasing your lifestyle is to think about the costs you're debating over a

[05:06] drive a nicer car, think about how much year, but perhaps over the next 5 or 10 years total. I find that when I do this exercise, it really makes me think twice about that expensive upgrade. Another

[05:19] of every single raise that you get. So, for example, if you get a raise from 100K per year to say $110,000 per year, you now have 10K more of gross income to that and then freely spend the rest. That way, every time you get a raise,

[05:34] And then, not only are you going to be lifestyle, which is very nice to do, but just not by that much. Goal number two is to be completely debtree of everything except for mortgage debt by

[05:47] your 30s, this is one of the prime earning decades to really start ramping want are credit card payments and other existing loans that are slowing your three is that you should be systematically saving and investing 15

[06:01] to 20% of your income if you can afford it. Even if you only can save and invest about 5% on a $60,000 salary, that still means you're investing $3,000 every single year. Even at $3,000 a year, if you get the average returns of the S&P

[06:15] you're still going to end up with an ending balance of over $600,000. All right, let's get into our 40s. Now, you can see that the average income in your 40s is now $95,613 and the median is $67,144.

[06:31] That means the median income has gone up roughly 11% since the decade before. As you get older, you earn more. And now you can also see that the 75th percentile earns $117,000 compared to $100,000 the decade before. The top 10%

[06:45] and 1% are still increasing their incomes. Of course, as well in your 40s, should be shooting for with this extra income, especially as this is one of the life. Number one, you want to start planning for your ultimate retirement

[06:59] number. So, you're probably still about 20 years away from retirement, but it's really good to figure out now what maybe your nest egg will need to look like in at a later age. A good rule of thumb on this channel is that you want to live

[07:11] off of 4 to 4.5% of your total investable assets during retirement every single year. So, if you were to use a million dollars as a benchmark and you had that invested in the market, the idea is that you can withdraw 4% of that

[07:24] the market returns should at least keep your balance growing or at least flat while you withdraw from it. That way, it gives you the highest probability of entire retirement. Goal number two is to make sure your income covers your major

[07:38] arrive. That means you could work on college fund, paying for home repairs, or taking care of your aging parents. Anything that you consider a major expense that is coming up, you should be

[07:51] for it. And goal number three in your 40s is to use these peak earning years to reduce any major debts that you still have. In our 30s, we want to be debtree besides our mortgage. Well, in your 40s, that's still the case. But now you want

[08:05] completely debtree by the time you turn 50. The less financial pressure you that you will gain. And I think that in your 50s, it's not about grinding more and more, but perhaps maybe you can dial it back a bit. So, in your 40s, you want

[08:19] to set yourself up for your 50s so that in your 50s, you can choose the work and have the ability to say no to a lot of things. All right, now that we've reached the decade of the 50s, you can see that the average income is now

[08:31] $90,986 and the median is $63,350. The median income actually dropped since the age of 45. And as more people step reflect that. Now, a fun fact here is that the median income actually peaks at

[08:46] the age of 52 at 70K. And then it goes down from there until the age of 62 when we're going to talk about that in a little bit. You can see that even the top 90th and top 1% incomes went down as well in this decade compared to the

[09:00] decade before. So knowing this data, how should it affect our goals going into this decade of the ages of 50 to 59? So goal number one is to diversify your everything into the S&P 500 or the NASDAQ, your investments should now be

[09:14] more of a balanced mix. In your 50s, that means you allocate perhaps some money to lower risk assets such as bonds and fixed income, treasuries, cash, and CDs. In the 50s, I don't think it's about getting huge returns anymore, but

[09:26] to make sure you're not making a life-changing mistake of investing into Goal number two in your 50s is to know how much you want to spend in retirement. It's likely that your kids are out of the house now so you can get

[09:39] spending on a monthly and a yearly basis so that you can plan even further. rule, which states that you should plan to spend about 80% of your salary in retirement. So, here is their table on

[09:52] reference that. And goal number three in your 50s is to start maxing out your retirement accounts, including catch-up contributions. For example, in 2026, the 401k contribution limit is now up to $32,500

[10:04] per year for people over the age of 50. Compare that to the under the age of 50 $24,500. That's an extra 8K that you can catch up with every single year. The IRA and Roth IRA contribution limits are now $8,600

[10:18] age of 50 where the regular limit is $7,500 per year. So, you want to take finalize everything else financially going into your 60s. Which means that if you need and what you currently have

[10:32] your 60s as well. All right, so we've been talking about the decade of the 60s for a while. So, let's talk about their income numbers. We can see that around the age of retirement of age 65, the median income, coincidentally, is also

[10:44] $70,1. If you remember, it's also the same median income at the age of 52, but at age 65, it goes back up again to age 65, it goes back up again to 70,0001. The average income is $11,000,

[10:56] and the 75th, 90th, and top 1% have gone back up by a little bit again. I think that this is happening because if you're 65 and retired, you aren't being counted towards these income numbers. So, these numbers are more of a reflection of the

[11:09] fascinating to see that. So, if you have any theories on why you think this is happening, please leave them in the comments. Now, in your 60s, I think one, definitely have your house paid off. This is self-explanatory, but I

[11:22] your 30s, your 30-year mortgage should be finally finishing up now, if not number two in your 60s is that if you have dependent that rely on you, you proper estate plan can cause huge

[11:36] unexpectedly pass. And you want to be sure that you can transfer any assets that you have to your loved ones in a seamless way without any arguments and full instructions. And the third goal is very simple. It's that your retirement

[11:48] guessing about how much money you're you'll need, how close you are to getting there, and you have a really solid understanding of your financials. Ideally, at 65, you can retire very

[12:00] sunset into a very happy place. Maybe you can go traveling, check out some like. All right, guys. I hope that you enjoyed this video. Let me know how much saved in the comments if you feel comfortable sharing that. And if you're

[12:14] looking for a video on how you can actually financially achieve your goals this year in 2026, you want to check out this video right here. I think it's one underrated on the channel. I hope to see you guys in that video or a future one

[12:27] you guys in that video or a future one on my channel. All right. Peace.