What Is Middle Class Income in India? Monthly and Yearly Ranges
"Middle class" is the most used and least defined word in Indian money talk. Budget speeches promise relief to it, and almost everyone, from a ₹4 lakh earner to a ₹40 lakh earner, says they belong to it. This guide uses the largest recent survey of Indian household incomes to put real numbers on it: what a middle-class household earns a year and a month, how many Indians are in each class, and how your own income compares.
The short answer
- A middle-class household in India earns about ₹5 lakh to ₹30 lakh a year, or roughly ₹42,000 to ₹2.5 lakh a month, counting every earner in the home (PRICE ICE 360 survey, at 2020-21 prices).
- About 43 crore Indians, around 31% of the population, lived in such households in 2021.
- The biggest group is not the middle class but the "aspirers": about 73 crore people in households earning ₹1.25 lakh to ₹5 lakh a year.
India's four income classes
People Research on India's Consumer Economy (PRICE) surveyed about 2 lakh households across the country for its ICE 360 series and sorts households into four classes by annual income. Its report on India's middle class, released in July 2023, gives these bands and 2021 population counts:
| Class | Household income a year | Per month | People (2021) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Destitute | Below ₹1.25 lakh | Below ~₹10,400 | ~19.6 crore |
| Aspirers | ₹1.25 lakh to ₹5 lakh | ~₹10,400 to ₹41,700 | ~73.2 crore |
| Middle class | ₹5 lakh to ₹30 lakh | ~₹41,700 to ₹2.5 lakh | ~43.2 crore |
| Rich | Above ₹30 lakh | Above ~₹2.5 lakh | ~5.6 crore |
Incomes are at 2020-21 prices. The population was about 141.6 crore; the "rich" count is what remains after the other three groups. PRICE projects the middle class to keep growing, to roughly 100 crore people by 2047.
Household income is not your salary
This is where most confusion comes from. The bands above add up everyone who earns in the household. Two people earning ₹25,000 a month each bring in ₹6 lakh a year together, which puts the household in the middle class even though neither salary alone would.
It also works the other way. If one person earns the whole amount, the same figures rank very high among individual earners:
| One person earning | Per month | Out-earns |
|---|---|---|
| ₹5 lakh a year | ~₹41,700 | ~75% of earners |
| ₹10 lakh a year | ~₹83,300 | ~88% of earners |
| ₹15 lakh a year | ₹1.25 lakh | ~93% of earners |
| ₹20 lakh a year | ~₹1.67 lakh | ~95.5% of earners |
| ₹30 lakh a year | ₹2.5 lakh | ~97% of earners |
So a single salary of ₹5 lakh a year already beats three in four Indian earners, and a single ₹30 lakh salary is in the top 3%. Monthly ranks for common salaries are in where every monthly salary ranks.
Lower, middle and upper middle class
PRICE does not split its ₹5 to ₹30 lakh band, and there is no official line for "upper middle class" in India. A practical way to read the band is by halves. Households near the bottom, around ₹5 to ₹10 lakh a year (₹42,000 to ₹83,000 a month), are what people usually mean by lower middle class: a home budget that works, but little room for big shocks. Households in the top half, roughly ₹15 to ₹30 lakh a year (₹1.25 lakh to ₹2.5 lakh a month), match what most people call upper middle class: a car, private schooling, a home loan and some regular investing. Treat these splits as a reading aid, not a rule.
Is ₹64 lakh a year middle class?
Not by this survey. A household earning above ₹30 lakh a year is in PRICE's "rich" group, about 4% of Indians. A single earner on ₹64 lakh a year (about ₹5.3 lakh a month) is in the top 1% of individual earners. It can still feel middle class in Mumbai or Bengaluru with a large home loan, but statistically it is far above the middle.
Why the band may feel low today
The ₹5 to ₹30 lakh band is at 2020-21 prices. Prices have risen every year since, so the same standard of living now needs more rupees, and the band in today's money is higher than the figures above. City matters even more: rent alone can swallow a third of a middle-class income in a metro, while the same income goes much further in a smaller town.
Other ways middle class is defined
Different bodies use different yardsticks, which is why headlines about the "size of India's middle class" disagree so much. The OECD, for example, counts as middle class those spending or earning about US$10 to US$100 per person per day. Per-person definitions like this give different numbers from household bands, so always check which one a figure uses before comparing.
Methodology & sources
Income bands, population counts and the 2047 projection are from PRICE's ICE 360 surveys (about 2 lakh households, survey rounds in 2014, 2016 and 2021) and its middle-class report released in July 2023; monthly figures are the yearly bands divided by 12. The "one person earning" ranks use the same individual-earnings curve as our India income percentile report, modelled from the Periodic Labour Force Survey. Household and individual figures answer different questions and should not be mixed.
FAQ
What is middle class income in India per month?
About ₹42,000 to ₹2.5 lakh a month for the whole household, based on PRICE's ₹5 lakh to ₹30 lakh a year band at 2020-21 prices.
What is upper middle class income in India?
There is no official figure. Reading the middle-class band by halves, a household income of roughly ₹15 lakh to ₹30 lakh a year (₹1.25 lakh to ₹2.5 lakh a month) is what is usually meant by upper middle class.
Is ₹10 lakh a year middle class?
Yes. A household earning ₹10 lakh a year sits in the lower part of the ₹5 to ₹30 lakh middle-class band. As one person's salary, ₹10 lakh a year out-earns about 88% of Indian earners.
How many Indians are middle class?
About 43.2 crore people in 2021, around 31% of the population, according to PRICE's ICE 360 survey.
India mein middle class kitna kamata hai?
PRICE survey ke hisaab se middle class ghar ki saalana kamai ₹5 lakh se ₹30 lakh hoti hai, yaani lagbhag ₹42,000 se ₹2.5 lakh mahina, ghar ke sab kamane walon ko milakar. 2021 mein kareeb 43 crore log is group mein the.
Plan your money
- How Rich Am I: where your own income ranks in India.
- SIP Calculator: what a fixed monthly investment grows to.
- Salary Calculator: CTC to monthly in-hand.