--- title: Fun with Numbers - What is Rich? --- [![Screen Shot 2020-06-28 at 11.15.20 AM](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screen%20Shot%202020-06-28%20at%2011.15.20%20AM.png?width=519&name=Screen%20Shot%202020-06-28%20at%2011.15.20%20AM.png)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/)   # Personal Blog # Fun with Numbers - What is Rich? Posted by [K Krasnow Waterman](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/author/k-krasnow-waterman) on Fri, Nov 09, 2007 @ 14:11 PM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) On Tuesday, the [Washington Post reported](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/05/AR2007110501641.html) that many households that earn more than $200,000 don't think they're rich even though they earn more than 97% of families. So, who is rich? **EARNINGS** [50% of households in the US earned less than $48,201 in 2006](http://jec.senate.gov/Documents/Reports/08.29.07Income.pdf) That income is not evenly distributed around the US. It's easier to feel rich in Mississippi, where you're earning more than half the population if you earn over $34.343. It takes $66,752 in New Jersey. [10% of households in the US earned more than $100,000 in 2005](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/business/29tax.html) In terms of dollars, it turns out that this top 10% earned almost 50% of all the earnings in the country. With 114 million households in the US in 2005, this means that about 1 million households have 50% of the earnings while 113 million households split the other 50%. 1% of households in the US earned more than $348,000 in 2005 The average income of the top 1% was $1.1 million. The top 10th of 1% earned an average of $5.6 million.   **NET WORTH** The [Federal Reserve reports on net worth](http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2006/financesurvey.pdf) every 3 years, so these numbers are from 2004. Net worth is the total value of assets (what you have in savings, real estate, business equity, etc.) minus liabilities (what you owe). [$93,100 was the mid-point for net worth in the US](http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/02/fed_stagnant_ne.html); half of households had more, half had less. The bottom 25% had an average $13,300. The top 10% had an average $831,600. It's important to know that age matters a lot in this case. Younger people have saved less, people just before retirement have the most, and oldest folks have progressively less as they spend savings during their retirement years. [CNN reported](http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/28/news/economy/millionaires/) that 8.9 million households (7.8% of households, or 1 in 13) had at least $1 million in net worth *not counting the value of their primary home. *These folks actually average $2.2 million in net worth. Who are they? They're in their late 50's, almost half are retired, and about one-fifth of them own all or part of a business. So, if one in every two households has almost $100,000 and one in every ten households has nearly $1 million, what does the top 1% have? A [recent survey](http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/17/pf/millionaires_spectrem/index.htm) revealed that about 1 million households now have more than $5 Million in net worth *excluding their 1st home*. Now, that's rich!   Topics: [net worth in US](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/net-worth-in-us), [earnings in US](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/earnings-in-us), [savings in US](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/savings-in-us) ### Subscribe by Email ### Latest Posts [![](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/hs-fs/file-13147345-gif/images/snooz.lti.gif?width=186&height=154&name=snooz.lti.gif)](http://www.snoozcast.com/downloads?source=kkw1) ### Browse by Tag - [b2c customer service (4)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/b2c-customer-service) - [Bangalore (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/bangalore) - [Beijing (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/beijing) - [China (4)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/china) - [Delhi (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/delhi) - [democracy (2)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/democracy) - [earnings in US (2)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/earnings-in-us) - [Gardasil (7)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/gardasil) - [gardasil paralysis (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/gardasil-paralysis) - [global outsourcing (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/global-outsourcing) - [hpv vaccine (7)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/hpv-vaccine) - [IIITB (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/iiitb) - [India (2)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/india) - [Kunming (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/kunming) - [MacBook AIR (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/macbook-air) - [Manhattan (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/manhattan) - [MIT - Sloan Fellows (14)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/mit-sloan-fellows) - [Myanmar (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/myanmar) - [net worth in US (2)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/net-worth-in-us) - [NY (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/ny) - [NY map (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/ny-map) - [privacy (2)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/privacy) - [product idea (6)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/product-idea) - [protest (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/protest) - [public policy (10)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/public-policy) - [savings in US (2)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/savings-in-us) - [Shanghai (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/shanghai) - [Southeast Asia (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/southeast-asia) - [technology (5)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/technology) - [technology - medicine (7)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/technology-medicine) - [technology b2c (5)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/technology-b2c) - [technology b2c customer service (2)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/technology-b2c-customer-service) - [technology for business managers (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/technology-for-business-managers) - [technology innovation (6)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/technology-innovation) - [VanGogh (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/vangogh) - [womens clothing sizes (4)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/womens-clothing-sizes) - [womens measurements (4)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/womens-measurements) - [Yangon (1)](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/blog/topic/yangon) Copyright © 2007 [Login](https://www.kkrasnowwaterman.com/Login.aspx)