How Much Income Puts You in the Top 1%, 5%, or 10%?

When you read all those stories about the 1%—or even the top 5% or 10%—it may raise the question: How much money do you need to pull in to be in one of those groups? You’ll need at least six figures to count yourself among the nation’s top earners, according to data published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Annual Wages of Top Earners

The latest available data from the EPI show that in 2020 annual wages for the top 1% reached $823,763, up 7.3% compared to 2019. How much do you need to earn to be in the top 0.1%? A hefty $3,212,486, which is almost 10% more than that group earned a year before. Wages for the bottom 90% rose at a much more modest rest of just 1.7% over the same period, with an average income of $40,085.

Historically, the rich have become richer faster than the rest of the population. EPI research has found that since 1979, the top 1% saw their wages grow by 179% and the top 0.1% by more than twice as much⁠—389%. Wages for the bottom 90% only grew 28% in the same time period.

The latest figures were drawn from Social Security Administration data, allowing EPI researchers to estimate wage trends in more precise segments and to measure trends.

Impact of the Financial Crisis

During the financial crisis from 2007 to 2009, wages fell furthest among the top 0.1% and 1% of earners. In 2020, the top 0.1% had still not yet bounced back to what they earned in 2007.Among the top 5% of earners, wages grew 13.4% since 2007, the year before the Great Recession. Those in the top 10% saw 16.5% growth.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Even as the coronavirus pandemic wiped out jobs and created hardship for many Americans, the well-off have continued to amass wealth. The richest 1% of American households added about $4.5 trillion in wealth from the end of March to the end of December 2021. And Federal Reserve data shows that as of 2021, the top 1% of earners now hold 27% of the nation’s wealth, a larger share than the 26.8% held by the middle 60% of U.S. households (often used to define the middle class by economists).

Income Disparity

Income disparity is the most dramatic when you look at how the distribution of wages has changed since 1979. As the EPI reports: “The bottom 90% earned 69.8% of all earnings in 1979 but only 60.2% in 2020. In contrast, the top 1% nearly doubled its share of earnings from 7.3% in 1979 to 13.8% in 2020.” The EPI also points out that the top 0.1% more than tripled their share of earnings to 5.4% in 2020 from 1.6% in 1979.

Wages of All Earners

If you are not among the top earners and would like to see where you fit in, below are the full details from the EPI study.

The Bottom Line

To be a top earner in the U.S., you’ll need to make at least six figures. The wealthiest have grown richer much faster than the rest of the population since 1979. Income disparity stands out in particular among the highest and lowest earners in regards to how the distribution of wages has changed since then.