Income in Mexico
The median income in Mexico is about $13 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 66% of everyone alive. Half of Mexico lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the bottom 22% of Mexico.
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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 MXN, at each point on the curve of Mexico (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Mexico | MX$28,059 | $5.54 |
| 25% of Mexico | MX$42,544 | $8.40 |
| 50% of Mexico | MX$67,361 | $13 |
| 75% of Mexico | MX$109,651 | $22 |
| 90% of Mexico | MX$177,265 | $35 |
| 99% of Mexico | MX$622,706 | $123 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Mexico
How much of Mexico 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 | Mexico | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 2% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 22% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 65% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 11% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayMexico 2% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayMexico 22% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayMexico 65% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayMexico 11% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 65% of Mexico lives on Level 3, between $8.30 and $33 a day per person; worldwide, about 32% of people do.
The line that moved
In Mexico, 13% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1992 survey; 1.7% at the 2024 one — a fall of 11 points in 32 years.
Share of Mexico 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 Mexico
8 portraits, not payroll data: each stands roughly where that kind of work typically earns on the curve of Mexico.
| the lowest 10% | the earnings of a smallholder maize farmer — working land the family has held for generations |
|---|---|
| 10–25% | the earnings of a street-food cook — whose tacos have a following |
| 25–45% | the earnings of a factory line worker — building cars for three continents |
| 45–65% | the earnings of a primary-school teacher |
| 65–82% | the earnings of an accountant in Monterrey |
| 82–93% | the earnings of a dentist with a private practice |
| 93–98% | the earnings of a corporate lawyer in Mexico City |
| the highest 2% | the earnings of an industrialist — with a factory floor named after the founder |
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Mexico (survey year 2024), 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 Mexico's — and a few far from it, for scale.