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

[Sojourner]

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.

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]

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-the-latest-federal-income-tax-data-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]

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]

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_Millionaire_(TV_series)

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

 

[Midpack]

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]

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]

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]

That's a far better way to look at it.

+2

 

[RunningBum]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millionaire_(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]

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]

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.

 

[MichaelB]

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.

There may be many higher income jobs in Cal and NY, but more wealthy people are business owners, not salaried employees, and business ownership is pretty consistent around the country.

 

[Dtail]

IIRC, for those that posted to net worth surveys in this forum, that average would probably be in the top 4-5% NW.

 

[flintnational]

Here is a Newsweek article about the minimum NW required to be in the top 1% by State. I don't have any idea if this is comparable to the data posted by the OP.

"The analysis used population estimates from the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau and net worth estimates from Windfall's wealth database of more than 80 million households. For each state, the minimum net worth required to qualify in the top 1 percent for that state is included, along with the median net worth of all homeowners with a primary residence in that state, and total homeowners with a net worth of $1 million or more. Net worth represents an individual's assets like homes, cars, and investments, less their liabilities like and other debt."

California -$6.8M
Georgia - $2.2M

 

[dunkelblau]

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

I believe in CA the divide is more east/west than north/south, with Palm Springs as an exception.

 

[audreyh1]

That is my thought as well. I would be interested to see this data excluding the value of the primary residence. I also wonder about the distribution of these households given that the home value is included. Perhaps many of them are located in areas with very high property values? 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.

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!

Of course they aren’t evenly distributed across the country or even within a state.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Here is a Newsweek article about the minimum NW required to be in the top 1% by State. I don't have any idea if this is comparable to the data posted by the OP.

"The analysis used population estimates from the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau and net worth estimates from Windfall's wealth database of more than 80 million households. For each state, the minimum net worth required to qualify in the top 1 percent for that state is included, along with the median net worth of all homeowners with a primary residence in that state, and total homeowners with a net worth of $1 million or more. Net worth represents an individual's assets like homes, cars, and investments, less their liabilities like and other debt."

California -$6.8M
Georgia - $2.2M

And Mississippi - $0.77M Ouch.

 

[audreyh1]

Pretty low 1% bar here in TX, so y’all feel rich, ya hear!

Texas
- Minimum net worth of the state's top 1 percent: $1,257,403 (416.5 percent more than median net worth)
- Median net worth of all Texas homeowners: $243,436
- Homeowners with net worth of $1 million or more: 409,951
- 2019 total population: 28,995,881

As of 2019, Dallas-Fort Worth had the fastest-growing millionaire population of anywhere in the country. The number of residents worth $5 million to $30 million jumped by 17.5% between 2018 and 2019, according to an analysis by Charles Shwab. Many of these wealthy individuals work in the city's biggest industries, including manufacturing, distributing, and finance.

 

[audreyh1]

I wonder if the value of any pension or SS payment is added to these net worth rankings.

Probably not.

 

[Andre1969]

Wow, I never figured the 1% bar would be so low for Maryland. "Only" $2.824M to break into that threshold? While I'm not there yet, if you tacked real estate equity onto my investible assets, I'd probably be around $2.6M.

I'd call myself "comfortable", but certainly don't feel "rich". And didn't think I'd ever had a snowball's chance in hell of getting that close to Maryland's 1%.

And that guy they mentioned, as Maryland's richest resident, Stephen Bisciotti? Maybe 10 minutes away, tops. About 4 miles. Probably about 1.5, as the crow flies. To think I practically drive right past his house every time I go to Aldi or the Good Will, in my 18 year old Buick with its dented quarter panel and missing hubcaps

 

[Dtail]

Wow, I never figured the 1% bar would be so low for Maryland. "Only" $2.824M to break into that threshold? While I'm not there yet, if you tacked real estate equity onto my investible assets, I'd probably be around $2.6M.

I'd call myself "comfortable", but certainly don't feel "rich". And didn't think I'd ever had a snowball's chance in hell of getting that close to Maryland's 1%.

And that guy they mentioned, as Maryland's richest resident, Stephen Bisciotti? Maybe 10 minutes away, tops. About 4 miles. Probably about 1.5, as the crow flies. To think I practically drive right past his house every time I go to Aldi or the Good Will, in my 18 year old Buick with its dented quarter panel and missing hubcaps

I am assuming uphill both ways.....