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

[aleabo]

Note this data include the value of any primary home.

There are 15,298,070 millionaire households in the United States, or roughly 11.89% of all households.

There are 8,046,080 US households with $2 million or more in net worth. That is roughly 6.25% of all US Households.

There are roughly 5,671,005 households with $3 million or more in America, 4.41% of all US households.

4,473,836 households have $4 million or more in wealth, while around 3,592,054 have at least $5 million. Respectively, that is 3.48% and 2.79% of all households in America.

Around 1,456,336 households in America have $10 million or more in net worth. That's 1.13% of American households.

11.89 + 6.25 + 4.41 + 3.48 + 2.79 + 1.13 = 29.95.
So we have 30% millionaire households in the United States. Almost each third...Will be interested to see %% for households between $300K and $1M.

 

[Koolau]

Which Opel? My 1st new car was a 74 Opel Manta. In ‘72 that same body style was called a 1900. I had one of those also. Always wanted a GT but it never happened. Maybe you had a Kadette? They got better mpg.

Mine was the Opel Manta Rally. (It was also a 1900 cc)

IIRC the car with the 1900 moniker (NOT Manta Rally) was the same basic drive train (but with a higher gearing in the differential.) The 1900 had the more traditional "boxy" design (more practical). Also IIRC SCCA had a class of "stock" racing in which the "boxy" 1900 qualified. Since the races were claiming races, no one worked TOO hard to be TOO good (IOW, you always cheated "fair" as the NASCAR boys used to say.) I could be wrong on all this, but mine looked like this:

https://germancarsforsaleblog.com/1972-opel-manta-rallye/

 

[ut2sua]

11.89 + 6.25 + 4.41 + 3.48 + 2.79 + 1.13 = 29.95.
So we have 30% millionaire households in the United States. Almost each third...Will be interested to see %% for households between $300K and $1M.

No. Just 11.89% are millionaires. The 6.25% is included in the 11.89% if that makes sense.

 

[Bigdawg]

Mine was the Opel Manta Rally. (It was also a 1900 cc)

IIRC the car with the 1900 moniker (NOT Manta Rally) was the same basic drive train (but with a higher gearing in the differential.) The 1900 had the more traditional "boxy" design (more practical). Also IIRC SCCA had a class of "stock" racing in which the "boxy" 1900 qualified. Since the races were claiming races, no one worked TOO hard to be TOO good (IOW, you always cheated "fair" as the NASCAR boys used to say.) I could be wrong on all this, but mine looked like this:

https://germancarsforsaleblog.com/1972-opel-manta-rallye/

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/2/4353/2221/23381110003_large.jpg?v=1

Looks like my first car. 1978 Dodge Colt. Paid $600 in 1987.

 

[target2019]

This page plots total share of assets by four groups.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=A734

 

[Markola]

11.89 + 6.25 + 4.41 + 3.48 + 2.79 + 1.13 = 29.95.

So we have 30% millionaire households in the United States.

I find that extremely hard to believe.

 

[Born2Fish]

Very interesting - thanks for sharing!

Looking at the interactive chart, between 2007 and 2019, the median Net Worth of every group EXCEPT the top 10% (90-100%) has gone down.

Wealth distribution and accumulation continues to favor those at the top.

I remember studying the Lorenz curve of wealth distribution many years ago in my introductory macro economy class. The curve just keeps shifting to the right.

As a group I think that we are fortunate to have been born with above-average intellect, willpower, and discipline. I know that these helped me get where I am today.

Wealth is not nearly as important as health and happiness to me. I have enough.

 

[aleabo]

No. Just 11.89% are millionaires. The 6.25% is included in the 11.89% if that makes sense.

Oh, yes. Thanks!

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

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.



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.

I don't know. When I decided to take on a side j*b (idiot!!) some of it involved reviewing the finances of principal owners/members of small/medium sized businesses that were getting government backed loans. I was quite surprised to see many of these folks had NWs in excess of $10MM but lived in very cookie cutter houses/neighborhoods...some that were smaller than our fairly mediocre home. It was quite enlightening.

Another trend that I noticed was that many of these high NW individuals had auto loans on relatively plebian cars.

Much of what I saw mirrored what was in "The Millionaire Next Door" (who incidentally was a pretty close neighbor of you and me).

When I retired in 1993, the NPV of my non-Cola pension was just under $800k. Today it has paid out over 150% of that and still going strong. Not even considered in such studies.

Yet it has made a huge difference in our retired life.

And yes inflation has been a factor in expenses but also investment returns!

You aren't kidding. The value of my pension (COLA protected) is immeasurable for a lot of reasons. When I joined the AF back in the day, the value of the pension was the very last thing on my mind. Today, it's the key to a great early retirement.

 

[Love This Community]

When I look at “studies”, “surveys”, “reports “, I am often reminded of the famous quote from my data crunching days.

“IF YOU TORTURE THE DATA LONG ENOUGH, IT WILL CONFESS TO ANYTHING.” – RONALD COASE

Irrespective of NW percentage, like the earlier poster mentioned, everyone on this site belong to an exclusive club of current / future FIRE of < 1%ers.

 

[watchman3135]

Is this total household net worth (married couple) or individual?

 

[USGrant1962]

Is this total household net worth (married couple) or individual?

Net worth stats are invariably household. The census data certainly is.

 

[Finance Dave]

Hard to believe 1 in 50 have that much net worth.

If you have a paid-for home in California or Hawaii you’re halfway there lol.

 

[Ger0n1mo]

Apologies if this has already been stated, but you get a whole other perspective on a world level. Here is a site to check your standing globally:

https://web.archive.org/web/20191229104608/http://www.globalrichlist.com/wealth

Like I have told my kids and a few employees - the difference between feeling blessed or distressed is who you choose to keep company with.

 

[jazz4cash]

Mine was the Opel Manta Rally. (It was also a 1900 cc)



IIRC the car with the 1900 moniker (NOT Manta Rally) was the same basic drive train (but with a higher gearing in the differential.) The 1900 had the more traditional "boxy" design (more practical). Also IIRC SCCA had a class of "stock" racing in which the "boxy" 1900 qualified. Since the races were claiming races, no one worked TOO hard to be TOO good (IOW, you always cheated "fair" as the NASCAR boys used to say.) I could be wrong on all this, but mine looked like this:



https://germancarsforsaleblog.com/1972-opel-manta-rallye/

You are correct about the 1900 vs Manta model designation for later years but In 72 the coupe was actually designated as 1900 Sport Coupe and Manta came later (per Wikipedia). Both cars I owned were the Manta body style but not the sporty Rally version which had higher numerical gearing for better acceleration. My brother had a Rallye. We had 5 Mantas including extended family. Really fun cars to drive. Sorry for the hijack!

 

[brett]

I have never understood the fascination about where one stands vis a vis others in the wealth game.

We only care about us. How much we need, how much we have, and what we want to do with our resources.

We could care less if we are in the top 1 percent, 2 percent, whatever. Does not make us feel good or bad.

Don't see the point of bothering with it, let alone what assets or annuitized cash flows to include in the number.

 

[Montecfo]

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!

Well, they or not evenly dispersed throughout the country. Concentrated on the coasts where you have higher home values generally and more tech millionaires.

 

[Music Lover]

I have never understood the fascination about where one stands vis a vis others in the wealth game.

For some people it's a way of keeping score. For others, it's verification of their belief that some people have "too much".

I never earned enough to get anywhere near the top 1% but I don't begrudge anyone who was that successful. I know people in business that did well and have attracted some envy but those people were never there when they were working 80 hours a week and thankful that their spouse worked so that they could buy groceries and pay the utilities.

The envious only show up after all the years of hard work when success has been attained.

 

[tb001]

I think these are a good reminder of just how good many of us have it. After a few unexpectedly good years, we fall into one of those higher brackets, but I will never forget the feeling of having $20 left to make it a week to the next paycheck, or having a car that I used to sit in and pray for it to start so I wasn’t late for work. I’m just thankful I was young, healthy and child free when I was broke.

Understanding that you’re in the top X%, even if it doesn’t feel like it, is a good reminder to give back.

 

[Andre1969]

I have never understood the fascination about where one stands vis a vis others in the wealth game.

For me, it's just a measure of financial security. I don't look at it as a game or a race, or any kind of measure of human value. I just figure the further up the ranks I am, the less likely I am to run into some kind of hurdle that would leave me destitute. And I'm better able to ride out the peaks and valleys that come with financial boom-bust cycles.

But I never looked at is as "Oh, I'm better than this person", "that person is better than me" etc. It's just one of those numbers that I look at it and think, "Oh, cool" and then move on with my life.

Actually, one of my more common thoughts tends to be "Meh, somehow I thought it would be more exciting". Anyway, as long as I'm financially comfortable, I don't care where I fall, percentile-wise. I'm just shooting for a certain comfort level, not a specific percentile.

 

[Sunset]

...The envious only show up after all the years of hard work when success has been attained.

.... but I will never forget the feeling of having $20 left to make it a week to the next paycheck, or having a car that I used to sit in and pray for it to start so I wasn’t late for work. I’m just thankful I was young, healthy and child free when I was broke.
...

People look now and might think, I'm so lucky.

Those same people never saw, me:

• Apply for jobs like cigarette salesman, even though I didn't smoke.
• Freezing by when taking the bus in Winter snow for 1.5 hours each way to and from work as I didn't have a car.
• Ask my boss if I could sleep at work for 6 months so I didn't have to rent a place.
• Live with my cardboard box coffee table and air mattress couch.
• Take a job across the country for 6 months.
• Live in my car.
• Buy my clothes and kitchen stuff at Sally Ann because my life was improving.

 

[statsman]

If you have a paid-for home in California or Hawaii you’re halfway there lol.

Not after the Federal capital gains tax plus NIIT plus California income tax hits them.

 

[pjigar]

People look now and might think, I'm so lucky.

Those same people never saw, me:

• Apply for jobs like cigarette salesman, even though I didn't smoke.
• Freezing by when taking the bus in Winter snow for 1.5 hours each way to and from work as I didn't have a car.
• Ask my boss if I could sleep at work for 6 months so I didn't have to rent a place.
• Live with my cardboard box coffee table and air mattress couch.
• Take a job across the country for 6 months.
• Live in my car.
• Buy my clothes and kitchen stuff at Sally Ann because my life was improving.

Ah, the "good" old days. Here is my list:
* Hearing gunshots around me as I walked to the downtown train station for working a night shift to a gas station.
* Mugged on the road and robbed in the store.
* Almost died trying to catch a train to work so I don't have to wait for an hour in cold weather.
* Upgrading my furnishings from the (real) dump.
* Walking, bus, shuttles and trains to everywhere.

 

[street]

I think these are a good reminder of just how good many of us have it. After a few unexpectedly good years, we fall into one of those higher brackets, but I will never forget the feeling of having $20 left to make it a week to the next paycheck, or having a car that I used to sit in and pray for it to start so I wasn’t late for work. I’m just thankful I was young, healthy and child free when I was broke.

Understanding that you’re in the top X%, even if it doesn’t feel like it, is a good reminder to give back.

Ohhhh so true !

Threads like these are a measuring stick and I like to see where I was and where I stand now with others. It really doesn't matter if in top 10% or 1% it is a gauge for me to see where I am at, for me and me only.

A great thread and everyone should be very proud of where they stack up percentage wise.

 

[ERObjd]

Agreed, there is always going to some with more, some with less, some just trying to live and get by, some going broke keeping up with Jones with the biggest house, most expensive cars, most expensive toys and some just barely getting by. In the end it only matters how you are with your own family. Life is not supposed to be a race to see who can accumulate the most. My Dad (now long ago deceased) (2009) often said, "he never saw a moving van behind the hearse on the way to the graveyard." I don't worry about it at all, every one has to start somewhere and I am likely in the lower % but climbing and saving as well as we can given out budget and income. albeit kind of a late start but it's a start.