According to the Economic Policy Institute, the average annual wage of the top 1% was $823,763 as of 2020.1 A more recent study by SmartAsset points out that the national average of the top 1% earners is $597,815.2 Have in mind that the figures vary greatly from state to state.
An income of $1 million or more puts you in the top 1% worldwide.
Australians wanting to be in the country's top 1% for wealth need to have an individual net worth of US$5.5 million ($8.3 million), Knight Frank's 2023 Wealth Report has found.
A taxable income that was $131,501 or higher was within the top 10% of earners in Australia last year. About 5% of taxpayers had incomes above $180,000.
So if you're on $100k or more, congratulations, you're in the top 20% of Aussie income earners. If not, don't worry, you're in the good company of 80% of Aussies.
In 2021, the average adult worldwide makes $23,380 and owns $102,600 in net worth. Someone in the top 10% of the global income distribution makes $122,100 per year. And someone from the poorest half of the world makes just $3,920 per year.
Top 10% income
The average earnings of those in the top 10% were roughly $173,000 in 2020, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). Landing in the top 10% is a fairly attainable goal for upwardly mobile Americans.
Ultra high net worth individuals: population of global 1 percent 2021, by country. Over 22 million individuals residing in the United States belonged to the global top one percent of ultra high net worth individuals worldwide in 2021.
According to Credit Suisse, individuals with more than $1 million in wealth sit in the top 1 percent bracket. The billionaire class is $2.6 trillion richer than before the pandemic, even if billionaire fortunes slightly fell in 2022 after their record-smashing peak in 2021.
It takes $2.2 million to be considered wealthy
The data also demonstrated that the 48% of Americans who feel wealthy today have an average net worth of $560,000, compared to the $2.2 million they say it takes to be considered wealthy.
Across the US, the average income for the top 2% of all earners is $206,000.
top 10% of adults hold 85%, while the bottom 90% hold the remaining 15% of the world's total wealth, top 30% of adults hold 97% of the total wealth.
The average yearly salary in Australia is 90,800 AUD (USD 60,355). Let's go through a few key indicators of the average earnings in Australia so you can fully understand salary statistics and trends in the country.
Stats NZ data shows that in the year ended June 2021, the top 1% of New Zealand households had at least $7.59 million of net wealth – that's assets minus any debt held against them. To be a 1% individual, you would need net wealth of $3.866m. Internationally, the top 1% is US$1.147 million (NZ$2.059m).
The average earnings of the top 20% are 12x the average earnings of the bottom 20% and the wealth of the average household in the top 20% is 93x the average wealth of those in the bottom 20%. The average household gross income is $121,108, however the top 20% of households earn 48% of all income.
They found that the top 20% of all Americans earn over $130,000 in income. Thats over 5 times more than the bottom 20%. While that's interesting in and of itself, what even more important is that the top 20% are also receiving over 50% of all the income earned in the country. Now that's BIG.
In March 2023 the top one percent of earners in the United Kingdom received an average pay of 16,754 British pounds per month, compared with the bottom 10 percent of earners who earned 711 pounds.
But the number might surprise you. To be considered in Australia's highest percentage of wealth, you must have a total net worth of a staggering US$5.5 million (A$8.26 million).
Bank Savings Accounts
As noted above, the average rate on savings accounts as of February 3rd 2021, is 0.05% APY. A million-dollar deposit with that APY would generate $500 of interest after one year ($1,000,000 X 0.0005 = $500).
Someone is considered a millionaire when their net worth, or their assets minus their liabilities, totals $1 million or more.
A rich person may derive their income from just one or two streams. For example, they may work a full-time job or run a business. Their income is typically entirely dependent on them doing some type of work to earn money. Wealthy people often have more than one stream of income.