DoS (Department of Statistics) just released the General Household Survey 2025 report. It immediately caused a hooha in local forums when ST reported "about 1 in 7 S'pore families earn at least $30k a month". There was widespread disbelief.
How could there be so many, so high?
Many posters on HWZ's EDMW also expressed their shock. This is ironic given that they often used $20k/month pay as a benchmark.
One common explanation is that there is no real increase. Households now have more contributors because adult children stay with their parents due to high house prices.
Some say those who are in disbelief have been left behind... :sweat:
First, let's look at the Monthly Household Market Income table:
|Year|< 3k|< 6k|< 9k|< 12k|< 15k|< 20k|< 25k|< 30k|< 35k|35k+| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |2020|19.7%|15.6%|14.3%|12.3%|9.5%|11.0%|6.4%|3.8%|2.4%|5.0%| |2025|14.6%|12.2%|10.9%|10.7%|10.0%|12.9%|9.1%|6.2%|4.4%|9.0%| |2020 cum|0.0%|19.7%|35.3%|49.6%|61.9%|71.4%|82.4%|88.8%|92.6%|95.0%| |2025 cum|0.0%|14.6%|26.8%|37.7%|48.4%|58.4%|71.3%|80.4%|86.6%|91.0%|
This is the first time income above $20k is broken down. In 2020, we only knew 17.6% earn above $20k. Even then, $20k was too low a bar. It is now raised to $35k — and almost 10% are above it.
$20k used to be 70th to 80th percentile (upper middle-income). It is now only 60th to 70th percentile (slightly above middle income).
Related stats:
||2020|2025| |---|---|---| |Avg|$12,396|$16,159| |Avg per member|$4,111|$5,579| |Avg employment income|$3,494|$4,439| |Median|$9,099|$12,446| |Median per member|$2,952|$4,160|
The average income has gone up significantly and 80% of income is from employment.
The average household size according to the above table is 2.90 (avg) and 2.99 (median). I don't know why they are different, or why they are different from the average household size (3.1).
Market income includes employer CPF, 1/12 of annual bonus and non-employment income, e.g. investments, rental, CPF payout. Some people say this is why the figures are on the high side.
For a single-income at $30k, the employer CPF contribution is only an extra $1.36k. For dual-income at $15k each (anything above $8k, actually), the employer CPF contribution is $2.72k.
If we assume a conservative 2-months bonus, it is $3.33k at $20k. (Using estimated employment income.)
Let's assume a more conservative non-employment income of 15% — $4.5k from a mix of investments and rental.
After adjusting all the factors, we get a figure of ~$21k monthly pay for $30k market income.
|Year|Total|1.5k+|2k+|3k+|6k+|9k+|12k+|15k+|20k+|22.5k+| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |2020|1,945.8k|9.7%|17.5%|34.1%|70.1%|84.2%|91.4%|94.3%|96.9%|97.8%| |2024|2,067.2k|3.6%|9.4%|23.8%|61.3%|78.4%|88.1%|91.9%|95.6%|96.7%| |2025|2,100.4k|2.1%|9.1%|22.0%|59.2%|77.1%|87.2%|91.3%|95.3%|96.6%|
It includes 1/12 of annual bonus, but excludes employer CPF. It tops out at $22.5k — top 10% of EP holders. Candidates earning over this are exempted from standard EP point system.
In this table, if you earn between $20k and $22.5k, you are in the 95th to 97th percentile.
From 2020 to 2022, it's like lower-paying jobs just... disappeared.
There is another source of info: Taxable Individuals by Assessed Income Group from IRAS. It has only up to 2024, and it goes by tax residents. Data for 2024:
||> 0|> 20k|> 25k|> 30k|> 40k|> 50k|> 60k|> 80k|> 100k|> 150k|> 200k|> 300k|> 400k|> 500k|> 1mil| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Number|74.9k|69.4k|125.7k|362.0k|295.0k|222.2k|169.6k|139.8k|213.1k|313.5k|150.9k|128.0k|50.9k|30.3k|9.2k| |Avg pay|$0|$1.8k|$2.1k|$2.7k|$3.4k|$4.2k|$5.8k|$6.9k|$9.4k|$13.2k|$18.6k|$26.4k|$34.2k|$50.8k|$156.8k| |%-tile|0.0%|3.2%|6.1%|11.4%|26.6%|39.0%|55.4%|61.3%|70.3%|83.4%|89.8%|95.2%|97.3%|98.3%|99.6%|
Avg pay is total assessable income in the band divided by the number of people in that band divided by 13 (w/ AWS).
How to read the table: if your assessable income is $200k - $300k (avg monthly pay of $18.6k to $26.4k), you are in the 90th to 95th percentile.
There is no figure for non-tax paying residents. I took the number of residents who earned less than $1.5k in 2024 — 74.9k. It is not accurate because 'residents' is not the same as 'tax residents', but it is much better than 0. This allows us to get income percentile for total employed population.
I blame high COE on easy loan and commerical use. I'm not so sure anymore after looking at this table. There are just too many high earners. There are more people earning $150k to $200k (313.5k) except for the $30k to $40k band (362.0k).
These people can own a car comfortably — car price should not exceed annual pay, remember?
||2020|2025| |---|---|---| |1 person|16.0%|16.7%| |2 persons|22.6%|23.8%| |3 persons|20.4%|22.6%| |4 persons|20.1%|19.9%| |5 persons|11.9%|10.9%| |6+|9.0%|6.1%| |Avg size|3.2|3.1|
To get average size of 3.2 in 2020, the 6+ avg is 6.x. In 2025, the 6+ avg size is 7.x.
The way I interpret this is, there are fewer 6-member households, leaving behind 7-members and above.
By living arrangement:
||2020|2025| |---|---|---| |Married w/ children|50.4%|47.6%| |Married w/o children|16.8%|19.1%| |Lone parent|9.3%|6.8%| |One person|16.0%|16.7%| |Others|7.5%|9.8%|
'Others' here can mean: grandparents w/ grandchildren, siblings-only, mixed relatives (e.g. uncle w/ nephew), divorced person living with widowed parent, elderly living only with domestic worker, unrelated roommates. The category is very broad!
The definition of lone-parent is very specific and may not be what you think. The household must:
This table is not very useful, it is more useful when broken down by age group.
||Total|< 35|< 50|< 65|65+| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |Married w/ children|47.6%|34.0%|56.7%|55.2%|31.6%| |Married w/o children|19.1%|27.4%|14.8%|12.5%|29.8%| |Lone parent|6.8%|6.4%|5.3%|9.8%|5.0%| |One person|16.7%|18.2%|14.5%|13.9%|22.3%| |Others|9.8%|14.0%|8.7%|8.7%|11.3%|
For 2020:
||Total|< 35|< 50|< 65|65+| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |Married w/ children|50.4%|39.0%|60.3%|56.4%|30.2%| |Married w/o children|16.8%|25.0%|11.3%|11.4%|30.6%| |Lone parent|9.3%|6.5%|8.6%|11.9%|7.4%| |One person|16.0%|19.2%|14.2%|13.6%|21.6%| |Others|7.5%|10.3%|5.7%|6.8%|10.2%|
Can we tell if households now have extra contributors? Not directly, but indirect evidence says no. If only there is a number of contributors per household figure...
||2020|Median time|2025|Median time| |---|---|---|---|---| |Public transport|57.7%|50 mins|60.1%|60 mins| |Taxi/PHV|3.1%|30 mins|2.5%|30 mins| |Car|21.1%|30 mins|21.2%|30 mins| |Motorcycle|3.4%|30 mins|2.9%|30 mins| |No transport|9.8%|8 mins|9.7%|5 mins|
(Does not add up to 100% cos I omitted a few categories.)
I find surprising is that only 60.1% of the people take public transport to work. A full 20% drive! Wow, that's a lot.
There is breakdown by type of property, which I think is more revealing.
||1 - 2-rm|3-rm|4-rm|5-rm n Ex|Condo n Apart|Landed|Others| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Public transport|70.2%|69.9%|65.1%|59.5%|48.9%|32.6%|46.5%| |Taxi/PHV|1.6%|2.1%|2.2%|2.1%|4.1%|3.0%|4.2%| |Car|4.6%|7.8%|14.8%|23.2%|36.6%|51.4%|14.4%| |Motorcycle|3.5%|3.5%|4.1%|2.9%|0.7%|0.4%|0.0%| |No transport|14.9%|12.2%|9.7%|8.6%|8.1%|11.1%|31.4%|
'Others' is where the surveyed person stays with someone else without charge.
This must be used together with the following table:
||1 - 2-rm|3-rm|4-rm|5-rm n Ex|Condo n Apart|Landed|Others| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |%-age|7.3%|16.6%|31.2%|22.1%|17.9%|4.7%|0.2%| |Household size|1.9|2.4|3.2|3.5|3.1|4.1|--|
51.4% of Landed residents drive, but they are only 4.7% of the total population.
For travelling time, median is not enough. We need at least 20th and 90th percentile. We also need breakdown by area.