The term you’re looking for is the median household income. It is the income level that divides all households into two equal groups: half of households earn more than that amount and half earn less. Key points:
- Median vs mean: The median is often used because it is less affected by extremely high or low incomes than the average (mean) income.
- How it's defined in practice: Different agencies may include slightly different components or age thresholds, but the core idea remains the same—the middle value of the income distribution.
- Examples and uses: A typical explanation states that the median income is the point at which 50% of households lie above and 50% lie below; this is a standard benchmark in economic and policy analyses.
If you’d like, I can tailor this to a specific country or provide a simple example calculation using a small data set.
