In 2024, the poorest households in the country (10% of the population with lower income) had an average monthly income of 5,598 pesos, while the richest (tenth decil) reached 78,698 pesos.
That is, households with the highest income earned 14 times more than those of lower resources. Although the difference remains wide, it represents an improvement against 2016, when the proportion was 21 to 1.
In general terms, the total average income per household reached 81,920 quarterly pesos in 2024, an increase of 10.1% compared to 2022.
The entrance for work, which remains the main source, grew 10.5%, while government transfers grew 14.3% in two years and 101.9% since 2016.
More and more rich benefit from programs
An analysis of the Institute for Inequality Studies also stressed that the coverage of social programs remains progressive. That is, it covers more to poor households than rich households, in relative terms.
In 2024, 53% of the households of the poorest decile (decil i) were beneficiaries of social programs. This is 32 percentage points more than the richest decil, where 21% of households report being beneficiaries.
However, the analysis warns that the difference was greater in 2016, when 78% of the poorest households were beneficiaries. On the contrary, between 2016 and 2024, the percentage of beneficiaries among the richest homes, from 8 to 21%, almost tripled.
Regional inequalities persist
While the average income in urban areas grew 10.8% from 2022 to 2024, in rural towns the increase was just 0.8%, a stagnation in statistical terms. The gap was extended, because in 2024, urban households entered 1.8 times more than rural.
In addition, the property rent in the field fell 37.2%, and in states such as Chiapas or Guerrero, almost half of the expense goes in food, in contrast to the CDMX or Nuevo León, where there is more margin for other essential expenses. Inequality is no longer only between rich and poor, but between territories.
Nuevo León and Mexico City registered the highest monthly average current income per household, with 39,011 and 36,895 pesos, respectively. In contrast, Guerrero and Chiapas presented the lowest average income, with 16,183 and 13,695 pesos per month.
