Income percentiles in Samoa
Where each yearly income band starts in Samoa, in WST, and what a reading there measures.
Reference data version 2026.4, reference year 2024.
Three cut-offs
- Bottom tenth
- under WST 14,000 a year
- Top tenth
- from WST 76,000 a year
- Top hundredth
- from WST 200,000 a year
The middle of the distribution, the 40th to 55th percentile, is WST 27,000 – WST 33,000 a year.
Every band
The 11 bands the income question offers in Samoa, verbatim, lowest first.
| Band | Yearly income |
|---|---|
| Below the 10th percentile | under WST 14,000 |
| 10th to 25th percentile | WST 14,000 – WST 21,000 |
| 25th to 40th percentile | WST 21,000 – WST 27,000 |
| 40th to 55th percentile | WST 27,000 – WST 33,000 |
| 55th to 70th percentile | WST 33,000 – WST 43,000 |
| 70th to 80th percentile | WST 43,000 – WST 53,000 |
| 80th to 90th percentile | WST 53,000 – WST 76,000 |
| 90th to 95th percentile | WST 76,000 – WST 100,000 |
| 95th to 98th percentile | WST 100,000 – WST 160,000 |
| 98th to 99th percentile | WST 160,000 – WST 200,000 |
| Top 1% | WST 200,000 or more |
Per earner. The source publishes household consumption divided by everyone in the household; the labels multiply it by 3.96, the people one worker's income stands for in Samoa, so a person can place their own income.
In Samoa the distribution is measured on consumption, not income. The two are not interchangeable, and the multiplier does not turn one into the other.
What the data rests on
- Confidence
- Low
- Years covered
- 1981 to 2024
- Survey-based years
- 5% of covered years
- Nearest survey
- 11 years from 2024
- Age bands
- none published; the all-ages row answers
- Measured on
- consumption
- Currency
- WST (WST)
Why: the nearest measured survey is 11 years from the reference year.
What a reading in Samoa measures
- Your place: which of the bands above your income is in now, against the band it was in a year ago, read as a position in the income distribution of Samoa itself.
- Your ground: both incomes with consumer prices in Samoa taken out, against how the middle of the distribution moved over the same year.
- Nothing is compared across borders. A reading in Samoa is measured against Samoa alone.
A band is a range, so a move inside one band does not register, and published distributions understate the very top. The confidence level above travels onto every card measured here.