The average household gross income is $116,584, however the top 20% of households earn 48% of all income. Twelve times more than the bottom 20% who are left with just 4% of Australia's income.
In fact, the minimum threshold to be among the top 20% of earners nationwide ($130,545) is more than two times greater than the median household income and nearly five times greater than the maximum threshold to be among the bottom 20% of earners nationwide ($26,685).
All in all, only two percent of Australia's 14.3 million workers take over $200,000 a year. Only three percent of Australians earn $188,667. Prime Minister Scott Morrison earns $550,000 a year.
Landing in the top 10% is a fairly attainable goal for upwardly mobile Americans. A study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), found that the average earnings of those in the top 10% were roughly $173,000 in 2020.
All of the top 10 jobs earn an average income of over $155,000 a year, before tax or the Medicare levy are factored in. This is based on the mean, rather than the median average for each job. We've also taken a look at the average take-home pay, based on income tax rates for the 2022-2023 financial year.
What do the top 25 percent earn? Based on a previous 1000+ survey study on Financial Samurai in Fall 2020, about 80% of readers are in the Top 25% income earners ($67,000+). Good to know that many of you are doing well.
People with the top 1% of net worth (opens in new tab) in the U.S. in 2022 had $10,815,000 in net worth. The top 2% had a net worth of $2,472,000. The top 5% had $1,030,000. The top 10% had $854,900.
The difference between perception and facts is even more pronounced when looking at households with an annual income of more than $500,000. While the median weighted responses from survey participants suggest that one-fifth of U.S. households belong to that bracket, it's actually the oft-cited top 1%.
Approximately 33.6% of Americans make over $100,000 per year. 15.3% of that number are those who make between $100,000-$150,000, and only 0.1% make over a million per year. What percentage of Americans live below the poverty line?
The Finder research – based on a nationally representative survey of 1013 respondents – reveals the average Australian believes he or she needs to earn $330,000 a year to feel rich. Women ($333,010) report wanting slightly more than men ($318,952) to feel wealthy.
Financial comparison site Finder found that in order to subjectively "feel" wealthy, most Australians would need to earn $326,900 per annum, some seven times greater than the median personal income of $49,805.
Australians have to earn more than six times the median wage to be considered rich. In 2021, a study revealed how much Australians were making on average and perhaps unsurprisingly, workers over the age of 45 earned the most.
Across the US, the average income for the top 2% of all earners is $206,000.
Approximately 33.6% of U.S. households earn $100,000 or more. With that, around one in three households are bringing in a six-figure income. However, a household can include more than one earner.
According to the IRS, a $400,000 or more annual household income represents America's top 1.8% income-earners.
And because of racial and gender wage gaps, women are less likely to reach the six-figure threshold compared with men. Just 11% of women make $100,000 or more on a national level, whereas 21% of men do.
The minimum net worth of the top 1% is roughly $11.1 million. A person would need to earn an average of $823,763 per year in order to join the top 1%. The widening gaps in wealth and income stem from a variety of factors, including the wealthiest's increasing dominance of public and private equity, and tax breaks.
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.
Your net worth is what you own minus what you owe. It's the total value of all your assets—including your house, cars, investments and cash—minus your liabilities (things like credit card debt, student loans, and what you still owe on your mortgage).
The Middle – 50%
Here's another number that may surprise you – to be in the top half (50%) of all earners you need to earn somewhere between $25,000 – $29,999.99 a year (again, towards the higher end of that range). The number of people earning less than $30,000 accounts for 44.76% of the population.
The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall. The hourly wage estimates in this example indicate that: 10% of employees earn less than $11.00 per hour; therefore the remaining 90% earn more than $11.00 per hour. 25% earn less than $15.00; 75% earn more than $15.00.
According to the ATO, the top 1% of income earners in Australia start at $237,300 but average $438,100.