About 1 in 7 Singapore Families Has Income of at Least S$30,000 a Month

The 135-page General Household Survey, released by the Department of Statistics on June 30, covered a snapshot of trends across areas like marriage, income, education and housing. The share of resident households in the higher income brackets rose between 2020 and 2025, in line with rising median household market incomes.

The proportion of resident households earning at least S$12,000 a month rose from 38.2% in 2020 to 48.6% in 2025. Market income refers to income from both employment and non-employment sources, such as rental and investment earnings. The median household market income rose by 3.2% per annum in real terms after adjusting for inflation.

All five major ethnic groups saw their household market income rise in real terms between 2020 and 2025. Indian families saw the largest increase at 3.5% per annum, followed by Chinese at 3.1%. The rise for Malay families was 2.3%. In 2025, the median household market income for Indians was S$13,382 a month, S$12,969 for Chinese and S$8,558 for Malays.

Employment remains the primary source of income for families in Singapore, comprising almost 80% of total household income in 2025. However, this fell from 85% in 2020. The share from non-employment sources, especially from investment income, rose from 9.6% in 2020 to 13.5% in 2025.

The share of married couples where both the husband and wife work has become more common. In 2025, 56.8% of married couples were dual-income families, up from 52.5% in 2020. Over the same period, the share of households where only the husband was employed fell from 24.9% to 21%. The share of married couples where only the wife was working remained stable at 7.5% in 2025, up marginally from 7% in 2020.

Terence Ho, executive director of the Institute of Adult Learning, said the rise in incomes is not confined to top earners. Nominal household incomes have grown significantly across the income groups, reflecting national efforts to narrow the income gap. “That said, there must be sustained efforts to ensure broad-based income growth,” he added.

Walter Theseira, associate professor of economics at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said that income inequality is another concern, particularly as investment income accounts for a growing share of non-labour incomes. He noted that the latest data may “prompt questions about Singapore’s tax regime, which is focused on employment and property income, and whether it needs to relook given the growing share of income from investment returns.”

Shannon Ang, an assistant professor of sociology at Nanyang Technological University, said new immigrants, including permanent residents, tend to be highly skilled and well paid, and their numbers are likely to raise overall household incomes.