Private income explained

Private income is either:

• any type of income received by a private individual or household, often derived from occupational activities, or
• income of an individual that is not in the form of a salary, wage, or commission (e.g. income from investments or renting land or other property).

Many people with a private income of the second type are comfortably or well off and may not need a job for additional income. People in such a position can have other pursuits, e.g., as a philanthropist, or in the past as a gentleman scientist, artist, clergyman or writer. Today among America's 146,000 highest income households, those making more than $1.6 million per year, 31% of all income was derived from investments.