disposable income

noun

: income that is left after paying taxes and for things that are essential, such as food and housing

I don't have enough disposable income to buy such luxuries.

Examples of disposable income in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Cheaper gasoline meant more disposable income for consumers, lower transportation costs for businesses, and a boost to sectors that rely on oil as an input. —Robert Rapier, Forbes.com, 7 Apr. 2025

Your morning coffee, your yoga pants, your car: When accounting for all 2025 tariffs, disposable income is expected to drop 4% for lower-earning households and 1.6% for the highest-earning as Americans make up additional costs for everyday products. —Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2025

The 2025 retail sales forecast is based on economic modeling that considers employment, wages, disposable income, consumer credit and previous retail sales, as well as U.S. government sources and the CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, which is powered by Affinity Solutions. —David Moin, Footwear News, 2 Apr. 2025

Should Americans have more disposable income, or should every taxpayer have flesh in the scrimmage? Garner the Grammarian Saving Endangered Languages Bryan A. Garner There are stages to most language deaths, the vanishings normally occurring quite gradually. —Caroline Downey, National Review, 27 Mar. 2025

Rhymes for disposable income

• abomasum
• become
• checksum
• humdrum
• outcome
• succumb
• therefrom
• wherefrom
• bum
• chum
• come
• crum

Legal Definition

disposable income

noun

dis·​pos·​able income

: income available for disposal: as

a

: the income remaining to an individual after deduction of taxes

b

: the income of a debtor in bankruptcy that is not necessary to support the debtor or the debtor's dependents