This paper analyses income mobility in Viet Nam from 2004 to 2008. The concept of income mobility is important for developed and developing economies, especially for those, such as Viet Nam, witnessing a stable persistent economic growth and profound structural transformations. Income mobility adds to the already established literature on poverty and inequality by quantifying how much households benefit from the economic performance of a country. The analysis shows that Viet Nam’s growth facilitated households’ income mobility. The analysis of the drivers of households’ mobility invites policy makers to tailor interventions, e.g. assisting less mobile households with many dependents, or endowing households engaging in agriculture –an important source of income and driver of mobility – with appropriated skills and tools. Furthermore, it is shown that public transfers have only little impact on income mobility, indicating that their effectiveness has to be improved if the state wants to assist households in mitigating shocks and reducing inequality.