For 2022, the average wage for working Americans was $61,136. The average wages of those in the top 1 percent of wage earners were $785,968 that year. In the rarefied top 0.1 percent, the average earnings were more than $2.8 million in 2022.
How much do you need to earn to be in the top 5% income bracket? For those in the top 5%, the figure rises even more. According to the same research, those in the top 5% earned an average of $335,891 in 2021. This is an increase of around $19,000 from the previous year.
Adjusted gross income needed to be in the top 1%
The national figure is $797,760.07. D.C. Americans need to make nearly $800,000 to be in the top 1% of households nationally — but the bar varies considerably by state.
The Top 1% by Net Worth
When it comes to net worth, the threshold is even higher. To be part of the top 1% in the U.S., a household's net worth needs to be at least $13.6 million. This measure includes everything you own – homes, investments, savings – minus debts.
Based on that figure, an annual income of $500,000 or more would make you rich. The Economic Policy Institute uses a different baseline to determine who constitutes the top 1% and the top 5%. For 2021, you're in the top 1% if you earn $819,324 or more each year. The top 5% of income earners make $335,891 per year.
Only 18% of individual Americans make more than $100,000 a year, according to 2023 data from careers website Zippia. About 34% of U.S. households earn more than $100,000 a year, according to Zippia.
13% of American workers aged 15 and above made more than 100k in 2021. The annual income of over 34% of American households exceeds $100,000. In the five years to 2022, American households earning over $100,000 a year increased by 2.9%.
When the IRS launched a campaign against wealthy tax cheats that year, the agency assured the public that audit rates would increase only for people earning more than $400,000. As an annual salary, the figure corresponds roughly to the top 2% of American earners. Why $400,000?
In 2022, the national middle-income range was about $56,600 to $169,800 annually for a household of three. Lower-income households had incomes less than $56,600, and upper-income households had incomes greater than $169,800. (Incomes are calculated in 2022 dollars.)
Middle class is defined as income that is two-thirds to double the national median income, or $47,189 and $141,568. By that definition, $100,000 is considered middle class. Keep in mind that those figures are for the nation. Each state has a different range of numbers to be considered middle class.
A newly released Bankrate survey says comfort can be found at $186,000 a year — or three times the $59,540 annually the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported for a full-time wage and salary worker in the fourth quarter of 2023. To feel rich, on average, Americans said they would need to earn about $520,000.
In California, close to 12 percent of households make over $200,000 per year.
In the United States as a whole, you'd need to earn nearly $788,000 to be in the top 1% of earners, SmartAsset reports. To crack the top 5%, you'd have to take in at least $290,000.
This means that approximately 3.8% of American households have an annual income of at least $300,000 before taxes and other deductions.
The top 1 percent pay a significant share of all federal taxes, while also benefitting disproportionately from preferential tax treatment.
According to recent data from the Federal Reserve, a net worth of at least $3,795,000 places you among the coveted top 5% of U.S. households.