Ledgerly Income & Wealth Percentile

What it is for

Most people guess their place in the income ladder badly — usually too low if they earn well and too high if they own little. This tool places your household among the people (income) or households (wealth) of your country, using the cut points that statistical offices publish.

Income comes from Eurostat EU-SILC (34 European countries, latest survey year 2025 for most of them). Net wealth comes from the ECB Household Finance and Consumption Survey, wave 2021, which covers the euro area plus Czechia and Hungary. Both are snapshots: they do not follow this year's pay rises or house prices, and they cannot rank you against the very richest households, whom surveys barely reach.

Worked example

A German couple without children has €52,000 net income per year after taxes and social contributions. Eurostat ranks people by equivalised income, so the tool divides by the modified OECD scale: 1 for the first adult plus 0.5 for the second = 1.5. That gives €34,667 per person.

The result: about the 64th percentile in Germany — more than 64.3 % of people have less. The German median is €28,891 per person, so the couple sits at 1.20 × the median. Measured against the whole EU, the same income is at the 81st percentile, because incomes are lower in many member states.

The cut-point table translates this into household terms: a couple needs €43,337 net per year to reach the German median and €82,457 to enter the top 10 %.

For wealth, a Spanish household with €250,000 net wealth (home value plus savings minus mortgage and other debts) lands at about the 71st percentile in Spain; the Spanish median is €127,700 and the top 10 % start at €561,700. In the euro area as a whole, that household would be at the 68.5th percentile.

How to read the result

• Your percentile is the share of people or households with less than you. "Below the 1st/10th percentile" means the survey publishes no finer detail below that point.
• Median is the middle: half have more, half have less. Your amount ÷ median shows the distance in one number.
• Cut points are the published thresholds. For income there are two columns: per person, and scaled up to your household size.
• The EU or euro-area percentile compares the same amount with all countries together.

Between two published cut points the tool interpolates in a straight line. Above the highest one (P99 for income, P90 for wealth) it fits a Pareto tail to the top two cut points; the result is marked as an estimate.

Tips and common mistakes

• Use net income for the whole household for a full year, including benefits — not gross salary.
• Count children under 14 separately; they weigh 0.3 instead of 0.5 in the scale.
• For wealth, include your home at today's market value and subtract the remaining mortgage.
• Outside the euro area choose "National currency" to compare with the official national-currency table instead of converting yourself.
• Remember the survey year: in a period of strong inflation, today's amount places you slightly higher than it should.

FAQ

Why does my income percentile differ from tables that rank households?

Eurostat ranks persons by equivalised household income, so a large family with the same total income ranks lower than a single person.

Why is the mean wealth so much higher than the median?

Wealth is concentrated: a few very rich households lift the mean, while the median shows the typical household.

Which countries are covered?

Income: the 27 EU countries plus Norway, Switzerland, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye, and the EU as a whole. Wealth: the euro area, Czechia and Hungary.

Can I use the data elsewhere?

Eurostat data are CC BY 4.0 and ECB statistics may be reused with attribution; the result lists both sources.