Nearly three in four salary earners in Zikoko’s State of Income Report 2026 make less than ₦200,000 a month. Zikoko ran the survey online in June and collected more than 5,000 valid responses across all six geopolitical zones. You can read and download the full report on Zikoko.
It is a survey of Zikoko’s own audience, not a random sample of the country, and the incomes are self-reported. Even so, the picture is hard to wave away.
Here is how the salary earners in the survey break down:
- Under ₦50,000: 12%
- ₦50,000 to ₦100,000: 31%
- ₦101,000 to ₦200,000: 32%
- ₦201,000 to ₦400,000: 17%
- ₦401,000 to ₦700,000: 6%
- ₦701,000 to ₦1 million: 2%
- Above ₦1 million: under 1%
12% of the salary earners surveyed make less than ₦50,000 a month. The minimum wage is ₦70,000.
Zikoko State of Income Report 2026
Tinubu signed the ₦70,000 minimum wage into law in July 2024, up from ₦30,000. More than two years later, a slice of the salary earners surveyed still earns less than ₦50,000.
The youngest workers have it worst. More than 75% of Gen Z salary earners in the survey make under ₦100,000, and 38% of them make under ₦50,000. Among millennials, 47% are below ₦100,000. Only about 1% of Gen Z respondents earn above ₦400,000.
Inflation made it harder. According to the report, 82% of respondents say rising prices have hit their purchasing power, and only 18% say their income has kept up. Headline inflation peaked at 34.80% in December 2024 and was 15.91% in June 2026. Part of that fall comes from the January 2025 rebasing of the consumer price index, which changed how inflation is measured and did not bring prices down.
Here is what takes the biggest share of income for respondents:
- Food: 45%
- Rent and housing: 22%
- Transport: 9%
- Family support: 8%
- School fees: 8%
The report cites a Guardian investigation from April that found a multi-bedroom flat on the Lagos mainland going from about ₦500,000 a year in 2024 to as much as ₦2.5 million in 2026.
Zikoko also put the inflation squeeze on Instagram, with a post on what ₦5,000 could buy in 2016 compared with 2026.
Savings are thin. Nearly 79% of respondents say their savings would not last three months if their main income stopped. In the past year, 41% went at least one month with no income at all.
38% of respondents say they could not last one month if their main income stopped.
Zikoko State of Income Report 2026
So people hustle. Thirty-one percent have a side hustle, and for 33% of them it now earns more than their main job. That does not make them rich. Two-thirds of side hustlers still make under ₦100,000 a month from it, and only 3% make more than ₦400,000.
Retirement offers little relief. Fifty-five percent of retirees who receive a pension get less than ₦100,000 a month, and 46% of them have a second source of income. The report says 93% of retirees get some financial support from family or friends, so the bill passes straight down to the next generation’s pay.
