In 2022, about 40 percent of adults in Mexico held a net worth under 10,000 U.S. dollars. In contrast, merely 393,000 Mexicans (that is, 0.4 percent of the total) had a net worth of over one million U.S. dollars. Mexico is one of the most unequal countries in Latin America regarding wealth distribution, with 78.7 percent of the national wealth held by the richest ten percent of the population.

The minimum salaryThe minimum wage per day guaranteed by law in Mexico was decreed to increase by 22 percent between 2021 and 2022, reaching 172.87 Mexican pesos in 2022. In the Free Zone located near the northern border the minimum daily wage was raised to 260.34 Mexican pesos.This represented the fourth consecutive incrase since 2019, but could prove to be insufficient to maintain the wellbeing of Mexican workers after the soaring inflation rate registered in 2022 and the economic impact of the COVID-19 in Mexican households. The legal minimum salary has a long history in the North American country, it was first implemented with the approval of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States in 1917. Income inequality in Latin AmericaLatin America, as other developing regions in the world, generally records high rates of inequality, with a Gini coefficient ranging between 38 and 54 among the region’s countries. Moreover, many of the countries with the biggest inequality in income distribution worldwide are found in Latin America. According to the Human Development Report 2019, wealth redistribution by means of tax transfers improves Latin America's Gini coefficient to a lesser degree than it does in advanced economies. Wider access to education and health services, on the other hand, have been proven to have a greater direct effect in improving Gini coefficient measurements in the region.

In 2024, the Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim Helu and his family had a fortune worth of 102 billion U.S. dollars and was thus the richest person in the country. The Helu family owns América Móvil, Latin America's biggest mobile telecom company.The second richest person in Mexico that year was German Larrea Velasco, who owns the majority of Mexico’s largest copper mining company, with a fortune of nearly 28 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2023, from the total national wealth in Mexico, 70.2 percent belonged to the top ten percent group. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent had a total of 2.3 percent.

The average personal wealth of the bottom 50 percent in Mexico was valued at -200 euros. That is, on average, people from this group had more debts than assets. On the other hand, the richest one percent held an average wealth of 2.91 million euros in this Latin American country. Similarly, Chilean's average personal wealth of the one percent reached 2.67 million euros that same year.

The zip files contain several files with wills from Mexico between 1810 and 1910 collected in order to measure Mexican wealth distribution in its first century of independence. The main file is wills_clean.xlsx, which contains the full collection of wills; in that file, you will find variables for year, state, and wealth, not excluding debts, debts and wealth (net wealth). You can combine this file with the do file cleaningroutine_for_social_tables to produce the detailed social tables. The rest of the files consist of data files with the social tables (for comparison) and xlsx files with the wills from the main file divided by decade to facilitate calculations using the do file inequality_analysis_ routine_clean.do from which you will be able to reproduce the rest of the analysis (unbalanced sample and generalized beta, lognormal, etc.) Note: The calculation programs are .do files; thus, they require stata to be executed. Some of the detailed social tables are dta files, and thus also stata files. You can open them in R and work with them or convert them to any other data format. The wills come from 5 different Mexican archives: Archivo Histórico de Notarias de la Ciudad de México, Archivo General del Estado de Yucatán, Archivo Municipal de Saltillo, Archivo Histórico de la Ciudad de Morelia and, Testamentos del Colegio de Sonora. ZIP-filerna innehåller flera filer med testamenten från Mexiko mellan 1810 och 1910 insamlade för att mäta mexikansk förmögenhetsfördelning under Mexikos första århundrade av självständighet. Huvudfilen är wills_clean.xlsx, som innehåller hela samlingen av testamenten; i den filen hittar du variabler för år, stat och förmögenhet, inte exklusive skulder, skulder och förmögenhet (nettoförmögenhet). Du kan använda den här filen i kombination med do-filen cleaningroutine_for_social_tables för att skapa de detaljerade sociala tabellerna. Resten av filerna består av datafiler med sociala tabeller (för jämförelse) och xlsx-filer med testamenten från huvudfilen dividerat med decennium för att underlätta beräkningar med hjälp av do-filen inequality_analysis_ routine_clean.do från vilken du kommer att kunna reproducera resten av analysen (obalanserat prov och generaliserad beta, lognormal, etc.) Total universe/Complete enumerationTotal universe/Complete enumeration Hela populationen/total räkningHela populationen/total räkning I took pictures of old wills and trascribed their inventories.I took pictures of old wills and trascribed their inventories. TranscriptionTranscription TranskriptionTranskription

In 2022, the percentage of income held by the richest 20 percent of the population in Mexico was 49.8 percent. Between 1984 and 2022, the figure dropped by 4.1 percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset presents the mean household income for each of the five quintiles in Mexico, MO, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. The dataset highlights the variation in mean household income across quintiles, offering valuable insights into income distribution and inequality.

Key observations

• Income disparities: The mean income of the lowest quintile (20% of households with the lowest income) is 10,617, while the mean income for the highest quintile (20% of households with the highest income) is 160,507. This indicates that the top earners earn 15 times compared to the lowest earners.
• *Top 5%: * The mean household income for the wealthiest population (top 5%) is 284,944, which is 177.53% higher compared to the highest quintile, and 2683.85% higher compared to the lowest quintile.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Income Levels:

• Lowest Quintile
• Second Quintile
• Third Quintile
• Fourth Quintile
• Highest Quintile
• Top 5 Percent

Variables / Data Columns

• Income Level: This column showcases the income levels (As mentioned above).
• Mean Household Income: Mean household income, in 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars for the specific income level.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for Mexico median household income. You can refer the same here

The 2006 ESRU Social Mobility Survey in Mexico (SMSM) is the first nationally representative, fully probabilistic survey of inter-generational social mobility in Mexico. The main objective of the ESRU SMSM is to describe and analyze inter-generational socioeconomic mobility in Mexican society. The SMSM is a stratified multistage sample of 7,288 men and women aged 25-64 and living in private residences in Mexico. The survey collects information on the socioeconomic standing of the respondent and his/her spouse or partner, including education, occupation, income, assets, and wealth. It also includes information on the socioeconomic standing of the respondent's and his/her spouse/partner's parents and conditions when they were growing up. Additional topics include: international and domestic migration, health, occupational trajectory, opinions, and attitudes.

The Mexico WealthTech solution market was valued at over USD 130 million in 2024, with increasing adoption of digital financial solutions and wealth management tools driving growth

HNWIs with ‘Director’ in their job title accounted for 13.9% of Mexican HNWIs by sample size in 2014, while those with ‘Shareholder’, ‘Chief Executive Officer’ and ’Chairman’ accounted for 13.5%, 9.3% and 6.0% respectively. Read More

Chiapas, the state with the highest share of population living in poverty, had the highest wealth inequality in the country based on the Gini coefficient as well. This index measures the deviation of the income distribution situation in a given country from a perfectly equal distribution. A value of 0 represents an ideal situation of equality, whereas 1 would be the highest possible degree of inequality. As of 2022, Mexico City, the country's capital, had a Gini coefficient of 0.46, second highest recorded figure.

In Mexico, as of 2022, the bottom 50 percent, which represents the population whose income lied below the median, earned on average 2,076 euros at purchasing power parity (PPP) before income taxes. Meanwhile, the top ten percent had an average earning of 111,484 euros, 53 times over than the average earning of the bottom half. Further, the bottom 50 percent accounted for -0.3 percent of the overall national wealth in Mexico, that is, they have on average more debts than assets.

Mexico MX: Total Natural Resources Rents: % of GDP data was reported at 2.876 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.277 % for 2016. Mexico MX: Total Natural Resources Rents: % of GDP data is updated yearly, averaging 4.267 % from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2017, with 48 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.400 % in 1983 and a record low of 0.937 % in 1971. Mexico MX: Total Natural Resources Rents: % of GDP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WDI: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Total natural resources rents are the sum of oil rents, natural gas rents, coal rents (hard and soft), mineral rents, and forest rents.; ; Estimates based on sources and methods described in 'The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium' (World Bank, 2011).; Weighted average;

Mexico MX: Mineral Rents: % of GDP data was reported at 0.883 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.793 % for 2016. Mexico MX: Mineral Rents: % of GDP data is updated yearly, averaging 0.325 % from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2017, with 48 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.308 % in 1988 and a record low of 0.032 % in 2002. Mexico MX: Mineral Rents: % of GDP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WDI: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Mineral rents are the difference between the value of production for a stock of minerals at world prices and their total costs of production. Minerals included in the calculation are tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate.; ; Estimates based on sources and methods described in 'The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium' (World Bank, 2011).; Weighted average;

Mexico MX: Forest Rents: % of GDP data was reported at 0.160 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.170 % for 2016. Mexico MX: Forest Rents: % of GDP data is updated yearly, averaging 0.130 % from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2017, with 48 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.443 % in 1977 and a record low of 0.056 % in 2005. Mexico MX: Forest Rents: % of GDP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WDI: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Forest rents are roundwood harvest times the product of average prices and a region-specific rental rate.; ; Estimates based on sources and methods described in 'The Changing Wealth of Nations: Measuring Sustainable Development in the New Millennium' (World Bank, 2011).; Weighted average;

A dataset listing the 20 richest counties in New Mexico for 2024, including information on rank, county, population, average income, and median income.

In 2022, it was reported that ten percent of the Mexican population with the highest monthly income made, on average, almost ** times more money than the ten percent of the population with the lowest income. While a person in the highest earning segment of the population (decile X) received approximately ****** Mexican pesos per month, a person in the decile with the lowest monthly income (decile I) earned nearly ***** pesos. In that same year, it was estimated that ** percent of the population in Mexico lived in poverty. Chiapas was the state in Mexico with the highest average poverty rate, with ** percent of the population in this state classified as living in poverty.

Mexico MX: Surface Area data was reported at 1,964,375.000 sq km in 2018. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1,964,375.000 sq km for 2017. Mexico MX: Surface Area data is updated yearly, averaging 1,964,380.000 sq km from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2018, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,964,380.000 sq km in 2015 and a record low of 1,964,375.000 sq km in 2018. Mexico MX: Surface Area data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Mexico – Table MX.World Bank.WDI: Land Use, Protected Areas and National Wealth. Surface area is a country's total area, including areas under inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways.; ; Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.; Sum;

The Overview of Latin America Wealth Management Industry is segmented by Client Type (HNWI, Retail/ Individuals, Mass Affluent and Others), Wealth Management Firm Type (Private Bankers, Family Offices and Others) and Geography (Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and the Rest of Latin America). The report offers Market size and forecasts for Latin America Wealth Management Market in value (USD Million) for all the above segments.

In 2024, two of the three richest people in Latin America were Mexicans. The leader of the rank was the Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim, the 14th richest person in the world. Slim had a fortune of 102 billion U.S. dollars, derived from his multiple businesses and investments. At third place was a fellow Mexican businessman, German Larrea, with a fortune of nearly 27.3 billion dollars.

Billionaires' wealth distribution Within each country's economy, there exists a relatively small segment of wealthier individuals who contribute significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of their respective countries. In Latin America, Chile stands out for its high concentration of wealth among billionaires, accounting for approximately 16 percent of the GDP. Mexico also exhibits a notable wealth concentration, with billionaires contributing around 12 percent of the country's GDP. Regarding the financial magnitude of these billionaires in Latin America, Mexico leads with an average individual wealth of approximately nine billion dollars, compared to an average wealth per adult of 43,140.
Income inequality In most countries within the region, the GINI Index, which measures income inequality among the population, falls within the range of 40 to 50. Notably, Colombia has the highest level of income inequality in Latin America, at 54.2. As a result of this income inequality, only around 2.8 percent of the population in the region is classified as having a high economic status, while the largest portion of the population consists of non-poor individuals with low incomes, and approximately 281 million people in the region live below the poverty line.