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Everyday Money

Household Income

Also called: family income, combined income

Household income is the combined pre-tax income of everyone living at one address — the unit most statistics, mortgage decisions and benefit thresholds use. It's a better measure of living standards than individual pay because costs are shared, but it can mislead across countries and eras with different household sizes: a rising number of single-person households mechanically drags median household income down even when individual pay is flat.

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