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Low household income

The 20th percentile equivalised disposable weekly household income is used as a threshold that denotes ‘low household income’. The 20th percentile for household income is the dollar amount that divides households into the 20 percent of households that have an income below this dollar amount and the 80 percent that have an income higher than this dollar amount. Disposable household income is ‘equivalised’, which means the dollar amounts have been adjusted based on the number of adults and age and number of children in the household.

The 20th percentile is a useful measure for illustrating the income level below which households’ real-life consumption possibilities will be severely limited, largely because meeting accommodation costs requires a large proportion of their weekly income. The 20th percentile income threshold indicates that the actual living conditions that households will experience are likely to be less than adequate [8]. The 20th percentile equivalised disposable weekly household income is most sensitive to the employment rate, and hours worked, and to a lesser degree hourly wage (the wage component having more influence towards the top end of the income distribution).

This indicator presents the 20th percentile equivalised disposable weekly household income for greater Christchurch and New Zealand, from 2019 to 2021.

The figure shows that the 20th percentile for equivalised disposable weekly household income increased in greater Christchurch from 2019 to 2021 ($452 and $499, respectively). The overall trend is comparable to that for New Zealand overall, but at a slightly higher income level (greater Christchurch, $17 higher than New Zealand, 2021).