Factor in some 'very poor' folks who when asked how things are they answer "nikujaribu tu". Very poor coffee farmer, very poor hardware store owner, very poor matatu fleet owner, etc. Visit Kiambu and hear watu ni "kujaribu tu".

I know a guy who is doing strawberry farming, making around 40-60K per month. The poor guy is a taxi driver at Westlands. I guess the cab company pays something around 17-25K. The latter is the official and only payslip. Very poor indeed.

Another runs around town with screwdrivers and CDs repairing computers but collects rent of around 40K per month. This one has no payslip so he is in the jobless category!

The grand pauper is a driver working for an NGO along Magadi road. The guy owns several flats in Rongai but his payslip is second from the bottom after the cleaner's. He is very 'dis-interested' in filling better positions when they fall vacant. Kazi ya dereva imemtosha.

Anyway, his secret to owning flats is frugality. Takes b/fast at the workplace, lunch provided by employer, saving consistently with the sacco, living in low-cost dwelling and saving the 'extra' with the sacco. It took years to be where he is. Oh...I forgot to mention he has educated kids in India Universities - part of the frugality is using the workplace post office box. That's how it was discovered he has 'interests' in India.

I tend to believe majority of these employed people earning less than 100K, are the same people who never want to be promoted. They prefer lying chini ya maji.

The corner office can make you poor. Dinners at Serena, Modern car, designer suits, etc.

I copy pasted this from Nairobiliving.com it's very interesting and notr I was referring to EMPLOYED Nairobians only

How many Kenyans go home with more than Kshs100,000 a month?
April 9, 2014 / admin / No comments
How many can spend Kshs74,000 on whiskey a night like our Joe Muchiri?
How many can spend Kshs74,000 on whiskey a night like our Joe Muchiri?
It’s getting crazy on the money front. The other day I went to buy some tomatoes and I was informed that I would have to spend Kshs20 for three measly ones which when I got home turned out to be rotten inside. Bummer. Then the price of everything is creeping up slowly. Matatus are going for Kshs10 or Kshs20 extra on every route in the city. But even with the escalating prices there has been a general feeling that Nairobians are making more money more than ever. This is shown in not just the pricing of goods but also in the media. We hear of people who are making millions every month in shows like Young Rich on K24 and The Entrepreneur on KTN.

So it costs more to live in the city while there is evidence of moving forward. But the reality on the ground could be a bit different front what the chatter is coming from all quarters. So just how many Kenyans go home with Kshs100,000 every month. Is it five million? Ten million? 1 million? In a nation of 40 million plus that wouldn’t be such a wild figure right?

Which leads me to a guy I met in Choma base in 2010, let’s call him John, who my good lady friend introduced as her new boyfriend (in those days she had a lot of boyfriends, she is now married bless her). We started chatting about the big discussion at the time which was how the economy was booming. In my opinion we were doing well and the evidence was the cars that were flying off the shelves so fast that as soon as there was a new prefix it was it emerged. KAZ, KBA, KBC, KBD, KBE. They were moving faster than hot cakes those vehicles so that meant, in my true “Nairobi is the bees knees” mode, the economy must be booming right?

He smiled and asked me, “Is that what you think? How many Kenyans go home with more that 100K?”

“I don’t know. There must be like 3 or 4 million,” came my informed answer.

He laughed. Really hard. It was one of those laughs where one ends up holding their gut with one hand as they slapped their knee with the other one. He was almost crying in his mirth.

“What’s so funny man?” I asked.

“Four million? Are you crazy? You couldn’t be further off the mark.”

“Was I too low? Is it like six million?”

“No. Again you are wrong. Go lower.”

“Lower? Three million?”

“Lower.”

“Two million?”

“This will take all night. Its just under 20,000.”

You should have seen the look on my face. This John guy must have been smoking some seriously good Malawi gold. People in this town were balling. Right?

“You must be joking. People are blowing up in this place.”

“Really? Who are these people who are balling?”

“People. You know…”

“Ok what types of people go home with more than 100k. Tell me.”

“Well the MPs are balling.”

“And how many are there?”

“222.”

“So these ballers you are using are 222. Who else?“

“Then there are all these guys in the big corporations.”

“How many companies do you think can afford to pay over 100k and how many people would be paid this huge amount in each of them?”

I thought about this one hard.

“Well I’d say all the company in the NSE bourse can afford to pay people at least 100k. I’ll suggest that on average 10 of the highest paid executives in each of the firms are paid more than that sum. So calculating that say 100 companies in that level of operations pay 10 staff that’s 1,000.

“So now you are at 1,222. Lest be kind and make it 2,000 shall we?” John suggested.

“Sawa”, I countered. “That’s 2,000 people making more than 100k.”

“And the rest?”

I tried to pad the rest. Farmers in the rift valley, athletes collecting cash from marathons abroad, artists who are making mad cheddar, tour operators, cell phone dealers, bums on the beach in the coast. I never got beyond 5,000 Kenyans making more than 100k a month net.

“So you see that people aren’t making as much money as you think they are?”

This really bugged me.

“But these cars are being unleashed like there is an offer. What is that about?”

“Aha! You see my job at the bank is to give loans to people looking for them. I have been signing off loans like crazy this year? Many of the cars you are seeing on the streets are there after I have signed off loans.”

“Wow. That’s just crazy.”

“It’s not crazy. How much is your net take home right now? ”he asked me.

“30k.”

“Come to my office. I have 500,000K to give you.”

In 2012, it emerged that there are 16,000 mortgages account in Kenya. Tafakari hayo

what should come out clearly is what is this take home? Is it just your gross salary less PAYE and statutory deductions? Or further less SACCO loans and savings, Insurance policies etc, etc? If Its less all deductions then its true, not many Nairobians are taking home more than 100k.
As an example, I know someone whose gross salary is 642K but his take home is normally between 90 and 99K after all deductions.
Further, the fact that there are only 16000 mortgages doesn't mean its only those who can afford. I know many Nairobians and Kenyans go the route of buying plots and constructing. I believe quite a number of Kenyans can afford 50k-120K from their salaries as mortgages but they choose a different route.

99k will come to around 80k net, toa 40k jama anabaki na 40k za kujienjoy

So many Nairobians earn more than 100K(formal employment).Otherwise living in Nairob on a gross of less than 300K is a hustle

@Mutiso09

Kwani how much do you earn? You must be joking about that statement above unless you don't mean what you said and said what you didn't mean!

300 k is kidogo for formal employment?

100k is a decent pay and should allow one to do the following; pay rent for 25k, car loan 15k, fuel 10k, school fees 15k, kujienjoy 10k and the rest savings. The food and house costs niza bibi