![]() And people near the very bottom of the income distribution were nearly as likely to call their incomes “average” as those near the very top. But respondents in the 60th and 70th percentiles were more likely to call their incomes “average” than those in the true middle. If Americans were perfectly scientific about assessing their incomes, we might expect the chart above to have symmetry around the 50th percentile - the true middle of the income distribution. Wonderful as they may be, they do not necessarily make up a representative sample of the income distributions in our cities, especially when we are increasingly living among people with incomes similar to ours. When most of us assess our financial well-being, we typically refer not to data tables but to comparisons with the world around us: our friends, our colleagues and our neighbors. In a country where the top 1 percent earns about one-fifth of the national income, it can seem as if “the rich” really means “the megarich.” Some of this perception may be rooted in the lopsided nature of income distribution in the United States, in which the very top earners have made extraordinary gains. General Social Survey based on Americans’ answers to the question, “Compared with American families in general, would you say your family income is far below average, below average, average, above average, or far above average?” Actual income ranks are based on inflation-adjusted self-reported household incomes “It’s hard to say, ‘I’m rich, but I’m the good kind of rich person,’ ” Ms. “Rich” can carry connotations of greed, opulence or entitlement, which, not surprisingly, few want to be associated with. Many Americans near the top of the income ladder don’t like to think of themselves as rich, preferring words like “affluent” or “comfortable” or “lucky,” said Rachel Sherman, a sociology professor at the New School who wrote a book chronicling the attitudes and perceptions of affluent New Yorkers. ![]() They also make clear the wide regional variations in American income - a high earner in Omaha would not necessarily be a high earner in San Francisco. They show the income distribution of people and households in your area to demonstrate where you stand relative to other residents. And income isn’t the only variable that affects economic standing - savings, investment portfolios, real estate and other holdings not accounted for here all factor into a family’s overall wealth.īut these figures can provide perspective. Every household is unique housing costs and other living expenses can vary widely within metro areas student debt and medical expenses can be crippling children are expensive. The concept of “rich” is more complicated than this, of course. Source: American Community Survey (5-year estimates), in 2019 dollars.
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