Income distribution can be defined as equality in which income is dealt out among
members of a society. Income distribution is measured by how much income is earned by different
segments of a population. In Malaysia, a common measure of income distribution is through
calculating mean monthly income. The reported mean monthly income uses macroeconomic data
segregated into ethnicity, states and urban-rural. At present, there is no income distribution
measurement specifically for the Northern States of Malaysia. Therefore this study aims to estimate
and identify the patterns of income distribution using different categories of income. The categories of
income used are employment income, property income and gross income. This study uses 2009
Household Income Survey (HIS) data where 30 per cent of total observations are used. The findings
confirm the LCH theory. There are different peak ages with different categories of income. However,
the peak is not as high as proposed by Modigliani and Brumberg (1954). Calculation of mean income
of different categories shows that the income from employment takes a large portion of total income
