Net Worth of the 10%, 1%, and 0.1% Households

[Timeisprecious]

I thank the Lord for a military pension! I'm not a member of ANY of these!

[MichaelB]

Here are links to the most recent version (2019) of the survey

Home page https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm
Executive summary https://www.federalreserve.gov/publi...iles/scf20.pdf

It is data rich and great for nerds stuck indoors during the winter looking for something new to keep themselves busy.

[mistermike40]

I would like to see those same stats broken out by state. The percentage of millionaires in NY or California is MUCH MUCH higher than Oklahoma or Kansas. It's almost meaningless when the HCOL/LCOL states are combined.

[Mr. Tightwad]

I remember when 4% of the country was millionaires. I believe thats what the Millionaire Next Door said.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by firewhen Looks like these levels rose, and this would be before the run up in stock prices last year. So being a millionaire now does not quite get you into the top 10%. Over 1% of the country are decamillionaires encompassing over 1 million households--lotta money out there! Percentile Threshold Net Worth: 10% $ 1,219,126 2% $ 6,557,023 1% $11,099,166 0.1% $43,207,732 This data comes from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve. (This is the newest data in late 2020). There are roughly 1,286,744 households in the top one percent or 1,762,143 workers. In the first quarter of 2020, the top 1% of households and nonprofit organizations held 31.2% of all net worth in the United States while the lower 50% of households and nonprofit organizations held 1.4%.

Thank for including the details such as year and by household. I didn’t realize the 2019 data was already available.

[Sojourner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoiseBoy It's difficult to believe that in a room of 100 people (different households) in my Midwest city, that two of them are worth more than $6Million with one of those having an 8 figure portfolio. But then again, I don't want to argue with the numbers.

I, too, find it hard to believe that here in my neighborhood of 150 houses (in the metro Atlanta suburbs) there are roughly 3 with a household net worth more than $6.5MM and one with a net worth greater than $11MM.

However, this is not a statistically valid way of looking at the data, since wealth is not evenly distributed among all neighborhoods/zip codes/cities in the U.S. It is, I would assume, heavily concentrated in and around large cities and financial/tech meccas such as Silicon Valley, NYC, Seattle, DC, etc. In certain zip codes in and around those places, far more than 2% of all households have net worths > $6.5MM. And conversely, in neighborhoods around, say, Detroit, there are likely far fewer of these multimillionaire households. So you can't apply these numbers precisely to your own neighborhood, or even your own city or state. I think it would be quite fascinating to see the NW percentiles broken out by city/county/state.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoiseBoy On the other hand, since nearly 12% of us are millionaires, the odds are good that you are in fact living next door to one!

For all the reasons listed above, you can't assume that. Unless, that is, you're living in an area that is on the higher end of the household NW scale, and even then it probably varies quite a bit from neighborhood to neighborhood.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistermike40 I would like to see those same stats broken out by state. The percentage of millionaires in NY or California is MUCH MUCH higher than Oklahoma or Kansas. It's almost meaningless when the HCOL/LCOL states are combined.

According to this WSJ report, the percentage of millionaire households (more than $1M of investible assets) by state https://graphics.wsj.com/table/Millionaires_0207

California 6.3%, NY 6,15%, Oklahoma 4.98%, Kansas 5.43%.

[LOL!]

If you want some more related statistics, then check out this short report from the Tax Foundation:

https://taxfoundation.org/summary-of...a-2020-update/

A 12-page PDF is in the link above. Summary: Many people either do not pay Federal individual income taxes at all or hardly pay income taxes. Thus, the Federal government cannot give any tax breaks to anybody but the wealthy since they are really the only ones who pay Federal income taxes.

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Tightwad I remember when 4% of the country was millionaires. I believe thats what the Millionaire Next Door said.

Maybe because you need about 40% more now to have the buying power of what a million was worth when the book was written. Or 1m today will only buy what ~600k would in 1996, when the book came out. So it should be somewhat easier to accumulate a million today....

1m ain't what it was. + or - but I'm sure you get the idea.

[Digger1000]

I'm in the top 12% in net worth and I would imagine I might be in the top 1% in lowest yearly spending since I usually come in at under 15k in annual spending. Which is why I was able to retire at 51 four years ago.

[HarveyS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonvoyage I'd be willing to bet that many, if not most, of my neighbors here in northern New Jersey are in the 98th or higher percentile - we are in the 98th percentile in my household. Most of my neighbors work in fields like finance, software (me) or biotech (wife).

I'll take the bet. I worked with many high earners and watched them spend away their earnings on any variety of things - cars, boats, second homes, gucci bags, extravagant travel, kids to concerts, sports season tickets, etc., etc.. Nothing wrong with any of those things. Just saying, in my experience, many people I know with high earnings do not have high savings and would not be in 98th or higher.

[mn54]

i haven't seen anyone mention whether these amounts are before taxes or after taxes. 1 million in a tIra is not the same as 1 million in an after tax brokerage account. with federal and state ( if applicable) taxes that 1 million tIRA may only be 5 or 600,00.

[calmloki]

Who all remembers "The Millionaire" from the 50's or in reruns? John Beresford Tipton as a benefactor passing out 1 MILLION! dollars to unsuspecting normal folks each week. Wonder if that didn't spark my mooning about what seemed an impossible sum?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mi...ire_(TV_series)

Edit: Oh - and that was tax free, as JB Tipton had paid the taxes due before gifting the million.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB According to this WSJ report, the percentage of millionaire households (more than $1M of investible assets) by state https://graphics.wsj.com/table/Millionaires_0207 California 6.3%, NY 6,15%, Oklahoma 4.98%, Kansas 5.43%.

Interesting that Maryland, New Jersey and 7 other states have a higher % millionaires than California or New York. I was also guessing CA and NY would top the list.

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mn54 i haven't seen anyone mention whether these amounts are before taxes or after taxes. 1 million in a tIra is not the same as 1 million in an after tax brokerage account. with federal and state ( if applicable) taxes that 1 million tIRA may only be 5 or 600,00.

Probably more like 850 per million if retired and can stay in lower tax brackets and you only have a million or so in them.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Car-Guy When I was growing up (50+ years ago), having a million seemed like a good target number.... At that time, I didn't know any millionaires but I knew some people who "I thought were rich" and seemed to live comfortable... So a million seemed like a good target.... Fast forward 50 years.... A million ain't what it was back then! Today (IMO) I feel you need at least 2 million "investible" to be in that same financial freedom boat and that's if you have no debt on top of that....That would be in the top ~5% according to the numbers above... And I still wouldn't call that wealthy... Comfortable yes, wealthy no... Again, IMO, YMMV....

I can't imagine what else I'd spend money on, if I had 2M investible. (psst...I don't)Years ago I feared dying old, alone, and broke, but life isn't turning out like that for me so far. Right now I have everything I could possibly need or want and in this market, that nest egg just keeps on growing.

Probably I should sign up for a "How to spend like a drunken sailor" class online. OK, the BTD thread is a good start. It's certainly educational!

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister That's a far better way to look at it.

+2

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mi...ire_(TV_series) Edit: Oh - and that was tax free, as JB Tipton had paid the taxes due before gifting the million.

What a fool, he should've given $1M+, and have the recipients pay at their lower tax rate.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Interesting that Maryland, New Jersey and 7 other states have a higher % millionaires than California or New York. I was also guessing CA and NY would top the list.

Large northern portions of each state (CA/NY)has substantial less monies than their southern portion of the state members.

[Bigdawg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Probably I should sign up for a "How to spend like a drunken sailor" class online. OK, the BTD thread is a good start. It's certainly educational!

PM Robbie. He'll give you some ideas.

Our NW isn't very high. I'll take our 2 military pensions, tricare and eventually SS over a high net worth. When DW takes her SS at age 70(I'll be 76) our combined pensions(mil x2, SS x 2, VA dis and 1 FERS) will be close to 220K/yr. Guessing our current 600K next egg will be over 1 mil by then and our current 800k house should be worth over 1 mil by then (2042). Thinking about these first world problems hurts my head.