Income percentiles in South Africa
Where each yearly income band starts in South Africa, in ZAR, and what a reading there measures.
Reference data version 2026.4, reference year 2024.
Three cut-offs
- Bottom tenth
- under R27,000 a year
- Top tenth
- from R330,000 a year
- Top hundredth
- from R970,000 a year
The middle of the distribution, the 40th to 55th percentile, is R61,000 – R85,000 a year.
Every band
The 11 bands the income question offers in South Africa, verbatim, lowest first.
| Band | Yearly income |
|---|---|
| Below the 10th percentile | under R27,000 |
| 10th to 25th percentile | R27,000 – R43,000 |
| 25th to 40th percentile | R43,000 – R61,000 |
| 40th to 55th percentile | R61,000 – R85,000 |
| 55th to 70th percentile | R85,000 – R130,000 |
| 70th to 80th percentile | R130,000 – R190,000 |
| 80th to 90th percentile | R190,000 – R330,000 |
| 90th to 95th percentile | R330,000 – R500,000 |
| 95th to 98th percentile | R500,000 – R770,000 |
| 98th to 99th percentile | R770,000 – R970,000 |
| Top 1% | R970,000 or more |
Per earner. The source publishes household consumption divided by everyone in the household; the labels multiply it by 3.59, the people one worker's income stands for in South Africa, so a person can place their own income.
In South Africa 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
- 7% of covered years
- Nearest survey
- 2 years from 2024
- Age bands
- none published; the all-ages row answers
- Measured on
- consumption
- Currency
- ZAR (R)
Why: only 7% of covered years rest on a survey estimate.
What a reading in South Africa 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 South Africa itself.
- Your ground: both incomes with consumer prices in South Africa taken out, against how the middle of the distribution moved over the same year.
- Nothing is compared across borders. A reading in South Africa is measured against South Africa 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.