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Malaysia · DOSM HIS 2022

Am I T20, M40, or B40?

Enter your monthly gross household income. See your tier, decile, percentile rank, and how much more you'd need to reach the next tier — against national or per-state DOSM 2022 thresholds.

Your household

Tier

Tier

M40

Decile: M3

You earn more than 62% of households in Malaysia (national).

RM RM 3,819.00/month more to reach T20.

Next decile: M4 at RM RM 9,449.00.

Source: DOSM Household Income & Basic Amenities Survey Report 2022

Decile distribution

Upper bound of each decile in your selected scope.

How it works

DOSM (Department of Statistics Malaysia) publishes a Household Income & Basic Amenities Survey every few years. Each release splits households into 10 equal groups (deciles). The bottom 4 deciles are B40, the middle 4 are M40, the top 2 are T20.

This tool reads the 2022 release. Pick a scope (national or your state), enter your monthly gross household income, and we tell you which decile you fall into and your approximate percentile rank within that scope.

Why it varies by state

Cost of living and median incomes differ widely across Malaysia. RM 8,000 a month in Kelantan is well into M40 territory, but the same income in Kuala Lumpur sits closer to the middle of M40. State-level comparison is the only way to read your tier honestly.

A worked example

Learn

Consider a Klang Valley couple whose combined gross household income is RM 12,500 per month.

Nationally, RM 12,500 puts them in decile T1 — the top 20% — at roughly the 81st percentile.

But against Kuala Lumpur's own decile table, the same RM 12,500 lands in M4 — still M40, with the T1 threshold sitting around RM 16,000+. Same household, different label, depending on the scope you compare against.

Things to watch out for

Numbers can mislead without context. Watch out for these:

  1. 01It's household, not individual

    The tiers are defined on total household income, summed across everyone living together. Comparing your personal salary against the household decile table will understate your tier.

  2. 02It's gross, not take-home

    Use gross income before EPF and tax. DOSM definitions are gross. Plugging in net pay will misclassify you.

  3. 03The table is from 2022

    Malaysian incomes have moved since the survey. When DOSM publishes the next HIS (typically every 2–3 years), we will refresh the underlying table.

Frequently asked questions

8 answers
What do T20, M40, and B40 mean?

T20 = Top 20% of Malaysian households by income. M40 = Middle 40%. B40 = Bottom 40%. DOSM groups households into 10 equal deciles, then collapses them into these three tiers.

Is this household income or individual income?

Household. Total monthly gross income across everyone living in the same household. Individual classifications are not officially published.

Gross or net?

Gross — before EPF, SOCSO, EIS, and tax. DOSM's tier definitions use gross household income.

Why am I M40 in KL but T20 in Kelantan?

DOSM publishes separate decile thresholds per state. Kuala Lumpur has the highest household incomes; Kelantan has among the lowest. The same income lands in different tiers depending on the comparison scope.

What is a decile?

A decile is a 10% slice of the population, ordered by income. Decile 1 (B1) is the lowest-earning 10% of households; decile 10 (T2) is the highest-earning 10%.

When will the 2024 figures be available?

DOSM publishes a new Household Income & Basic Amenities Survey every two to three years. We will update this calculator with new thresholds once the next release is published.

Why doesn't the top 10% show an exact percentile?

DOSM publishes decile boundaries up to the start of T2 but does not publish a finer breakdown of incomes inside T2. Without that data we cannot estimate where inside the top 10% any specific income sits, so we cap the displayed percentile at 95%.

Is this an official government classification?

No. We use the official DOSM thresholds, but the tier label this tool shows is for your own reference. Government programmes have their own eligibility criteria that may use different definitions or updated figures.

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