As of 4 November 2026.
A figure is doing the rounds on social media: earn Rs 140,000 a month and you are among the top 10% of earners in Pakistan. Is it true?
Close — but the latest estimate is actually lower. Figures from the World Inequality Database (WID), reported on 30 October 2026, put the entry point to the top 10% at about Rs 1.46 million a year, or roughly Rs 121,000 a month. So someone earning Rs 140,000 a month is not just in the top 10% — they are comfortably inside it, though still short of the top 5%.
Where the lines fall
According to the WID estimates (2024 data, in 2025 rupees):
- Average adult income: about Rs 70,600 a month
- Top 10% starts at: about Rs 121,000 a month (Rs 1.46 million a year)
- Top 5% starts at: about Rs 189,000 a month (Rs 2.26 million a year)
- Top 1% starts at: about Rs 440,000 a month (Rs 5.28 million a year)
- Average income within the top 10%: about Rs 302,000 a month
Read the small print before you celebrate
These are not salary benchmarks. Three things to keep in mind:
- It is pre-tax income per adult — wages plus business, property and other income, before any tax is deducted.
- Household income is shared. For married couples, WID splits income equally between the two partners. A single earner on Rs 240,000 supporting a spouse is counted as two adults on Rs 120,000 each.
- Thresholds are entry points, not averages. The top 10% begins at around Rs 121,000, but the average person inside that group earns more than twice that.
In other words, "top 10%" says a lot about how incomes are spread across the country, and much less about whether a particular salary feels comfortable in Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad.
What these incomes pay in salary tax (Tax Year 2027)
Here is the annual income tax a salaried individual would pay at each level, using the Tax Year 2027 salary slabs (1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027):
- Rs 70,600 a month (average adult): about Rs 206 a month — Rs 2,472 a year (0.3% of salary)
- Rs 121,443 a month (top 10% entry): about Rs 2,859 a month — Rs 34,305 a year (2.4%)
- Rs 140,000 a month (the viral figure): about Rs 4,900 a month — Rs 58,800 a year (3.5%)
- Rs 188,511 a month (top 5% entry): about Rs 10,702 a month — Rs 128,426 a year (5.7%)
- Rs 302,000 a month (average of the top 10%): about Rs 35,167 a month — Rs 422,000 a year (11.6%)
- Rs 439,852 a month (top 1% entry): about Rs 73,557 a month — Rs 882,685 a year (16.7%)
The pattern is the point: Pakistan's slab system is progressive, so the share of income paid in tax climbs steeply as you move from the top 10% line towards the top 1%. These figures assume salary is the only income, with no other income, allowances, credits or adjustments — your actual position can differ.
Check your own number
Enter your monthly salary in our free Income Tax Calculator to see your monthly tax, take-home pay and a line-by-line breakdown for Tax Year 2027.
Income thresholds are World Inequality Database estimates as reported on 30 October 2026; they measure pre-tax national income per adult and are not official salary statistics. Tax figures are estimates for salaried individuals under the Tax Year 2027 slabs. This article is general information, not tax advice.
Have salary, freelance and business income together, or unsure which tax table applies to you? Talk to HLM Consultants.