Income in China
The median income in China is about $12 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 64% of everyone alive. Half of China lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the bottom 24% of China.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in today's CNY, at each point on the curve of China (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of China | CN¥8,505 | $5.67 |
| 25% of China | CN¥12,018 | $8.00 |
| 50% of China | CN¥18,166 | $12 |
| 75% of China | CN¥27,624 | $18 |
| 90% of China | CN¥42,036 | $28 |
| 99% of China | CN¥110,646 | $74 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in China
How much of China and of the world lives on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | China | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | <1% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 27% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 66% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 7% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayChina <1% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayChina 27% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayChina 66% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayChina 7% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 66% of China lives on Level 3, between $8.30 and $33 a day per person; worldwide, about 32% of people do.
The line that moved
In China, 83% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1990 survey; under 1% at the 2022 one — a fall of 83 points in 32 years.
Share of China under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
Who earns what in China
8 portraits, not payroll data: each stands roughly where that kind of work typically earns on the curve of China.
| the lowest 10% | the earnings of a smallholder farmer inland — terraces built by great-grandparents |
|---|---|
| 10–25% | the earnings of a migrant construction worker — building three skylines a decade |
| 25–45% | the earnings of a delivery rider in Chengdu — the algorithm is a demanding boss |
| 45–65% | the earnings of a factory technician in Shenzhen |
| 65–82% | the earnings of a schoolteacher in a provincial capital |
| 82–93% | the earnings of an engineer at a tech firm — the hours are famous; so are the products |
| 93–98% | the earnings of a Shanghai finance professional |
| the highest 2% | the earnings of a factory owner — your products are probably within arm’s reach of you now |
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for China (survey year 2022), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to China's — and a few far from it, for scale.