Breakdowns of individuals and households with incomes exceeding $60,000.^[1][2]

The US Census Bureau offers income data by household and individual. It is to be noted that 42% of households have two incomes earners; thus making households' income levels higher than personal income levels.^[8] The 2005 economic survey revealed the income distribution for households and individuals whereby the top 5% of individuals had six figure incomes (exceeding $100,000) and the top 10% of individuals had incomes exceeding $75,000.^[4] The top 5% of households, three quarters of whom had two income earners, had incomes of $166,200 or more,^[8] with the top 10% having incomes well in excess of $100,000.^[9] The top 1.5% of households had incomes exceeding $250,000 with 146,000 households, the top 0.12%, having incomes exceeding $1,600,000 annually.^[10] Households may also be differentiated among each other, depending on whether or not they have one or multiple income earners. While many middle-middle class households rely on two income earners to merely make ends meet,^[11] those in the upper middle class may be able to do so on just one income. In 2005 for example, the median households income for a two income earner households was $67,000. The median income for an individual employed full-time with a graduate degree was in excess of $60,000, concluding that nearly half of those with graduate degree are able to out-earn most dual income households with one-income.^[5]

Overall the term affluent may be applied to a variety of individuals, households or other entities depending on context. Data from the US Census Bureau serves as the main guideline for defining affluence. US government data not only reveals the nation's income distribution but also provides data regarding the demographic characteristics of those to whom the term, affluent, may be applied.^[8]

Top percentiles

Affluence and economic standing within society is often expressed in terms of percentile ranking. Economic ranking is conducted either in terms of giving lower thresholds for a designated group (e.g. the top 5%, 10%, 15%, etc.) or in terms of the percentage of households/individuals with incomes above a certain thresholds (e.g. above $75,000, $100,000, $150,000, etc.). The table below presents 2006 income data in terms of the lower thresholds for the given percentages (e.g. the top 25.6% of households had incomes exceeding $80,000, compared to $47,000 for the top quarter of individuals).^[4][9]

SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2006^[4][9]

Over time

This graph shows the income of the given percentiles from 1967 to 2003, in 2003 dollars.^[12]

Two income earner households are far more common among the top quintile of households than the general population. 2006 US Census Bureau data indicates that over three quarters, 76%, of households in the top quintile, with annual incomes exceeding $91,200, had two or more income earners compared to just 42% among the general population and a small minority in the bottom three quintiles. As a result much of the rising income inequity between the upper and lower percentiles can be explained through the increasing percentage of households with two or more incomes.^[11][13]

SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2004^[12] (Page 44/45), All figures are inflation-adjusted and given in 2003 dollars.

Median income levels

Professions

Median annual earnings of selected professions as well as the nation median income of full-time, year-round employed workers, according to the US Department of Labor.

In the United States the highest earning occupational groups were white collar professionals including management. Individuals in these occupations tend to experience the highest job satisfaction and highest incomes. The overall highest paying profession in the United States is that of physician.^[7] Physician (M.D.and D.O.) compensation ranks as the highest median annual earnings of any profession. Median annual earnings ranged from $156,010 for family physicians to $321,686 for anesthesiologists. Surgeons post a median annual income of $282,504.^[16] By comparison the median annual salary for a Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) in May 2004 was $140,350.^[17] Overall annual earnings among the nation's top 25 professions ranged from the $70,000s to the $300,000s. In addition to physicians, lawyers, physicists, air traffic controllers, and nuclear engineers were all among the nation's 20 highest paid occupations with incomes in excess of $78,410.^[18] Some of the other occupations in the high five-figure range were economists with a median of $72,780,^[19] mathematicians with $81,240,^[20] financial managers with $81,880,^[21] and software publishers with median annual earnings of $73,060.^[22]

Education

Median household and personal income by educational attainment.

Race

Percent of households with six figure incomes and individuals with incomes in the top 10%, exceeding $77,500.

Racial breakdown of households with six figure incomes.

Recent US Census Bureau publications indicate a strong correlation between race and affluence. In the top household income quintile, households with incomes exceeding $91,200, Whites and Asian Americans were overrepresented, whereas Hispanics and African Americans were underrepresented. The household income for Asian Americans was, at $61,094, by far the highest,^[24] exceeding that of Whites ($48,554) by 26%.^[25] Over a quarter, 27.5%, of Asian American households had incomes exceeding $100,000 , and another 40% had incomes of over $75,000.^[26] Among White households, who remained near the national median, 18.3% had six figure incomes, while 28.9% had incomes exceeding $75,000.^[25] The percentages of households with incomes exceeding $100,000 and $75,000 were far below the national medians for Hispanic and African American households.^[27] Among Hispanic households, for example, only 9% had six figure incomes, and 17% had incomes exceeding $75,000.^[28] The race gap remained when considering personal income. In 2005, roughly 11% of Asian Americans^[29] and 7% of White individuals^[30] had six figure incomes, compared to 2.6% among Hispanics^[31] and 2.3% among African Americans.^[32]

The racial breakdowns of income brackets further illustrate the racial disparities associated with affluence. in 2005, 81.8% of all 114 million households were White,^[25] 12.2% were African American,^[27] 10.9% were Hispanic^[28] and 3.7% were Asian American.^[24][33] While White households are always near the national median due to Whites being the by far most prevalent racial demographic, the percentages of minority households with incomes exceeding $100,000 strayed considerably from their percentage of the overall population. Asian Americans, who represent the smallest surveyed racial demographic in the overall population, were the found to be the prevalent minority among six figure income households. Among the nearly twenty million households with six figure incomes, 86.9% were White,^[25] 5.9% were Asian American,^[24] 5.6% were Hispanic^[28] and 5.5% were African American.^[27] Among the general individual population with earnings, 82.1% were White,^[30] 12.7% were Hispanic,^[31] 11.0% were African American^[32] and 4.6% were Asian American.^[29] Of the top 10% of income earners, those nearly 15 million individuals with incomes exceeding $77,500, Whites and Asians were once again overrepresented with the percentages of African Americans and Hispanics trailing behind considerably. Of the top 10% of earners, 86.7% were White.^[30] Asian Americans were the prevalent minority, constituting 6.8% of top 10% income earners, nearly twice the percentage of Asian Americans among the general population.^[29] Hispanics, who were the prevalent minority in the general population of income earners, constituted only 5.2% of those in the top 10%,^[31] with African Americans being the least represented with 5.1%.^[32]

SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2006^[34]

Status and Stratification

Economic well-being is often associated with high societal status, yet one needs to remember that income and economic compensation of any sort are first and foremost the result of scarcity and may only act as an indicator of social class. It is in the interest of society that all open positions are adequately filled with the occupant being enticed to do his or her best.^[7] As a result an occupation that requires a scarce skill, the attainment of which is often documented through an educational degree, and entrusts its occupant with a high degree of influence will generally feature high economic compensation. The high income is meant to ensure that individuals obtain the necessary skills (e.g. medical or graduate school) and complete their tasks with the necessary valor.^[35] Differences in income may, however, be found among occupations of similar sociological nature. The median annual earnings of a physican were in excess of $150,000 in May 2004, compared to $95,000 for an attorney.^[16][18] Both occupations require finely tuned and scarce skill sets and both are essential to the well-being of society. Yet, family doctors outearned attorneys and other upper middle class professionals by a wide margin as their skill-sets are deemed especially scarce. Overall, high status positions tend to be those requiring a scarce skill and are therefore commonly far better compensated than those in the middle of the occupational strata.^[7][35]

It is important to remember that the above is an ideal type, a simplified model or reality using optimal circumstances. In reality other factors such as discrimination based on race, ethnicity and gender as well as aggressive political lobbying by certain professional organizations also influence personal income. An individual's personal career decisions as well as his or her personal connections within the nation's economic institutions are also likely to have an affect on income, status and whether or not an individual may be referred to as affluent.^[6] In contemporary America it is a combination of all these factors, with scarcity remaining the by far most prominent one, determine a person's economic compensation. Due to higher status professions requiring advanced and thus less commonly found skill sets (including the ability to supervise and work with a considerable autonomy) are better compensated through the means of income, making high status individuals relatively affluent, depending on reference group.^[7]

While the two paragraphs above only describe the relationship between status and personal income, household income is also often used to infer status. As a result, the dual income phenomenon presents yet another problem in equating affluence with high societal status. As mentioned earlier in the article 42% of households have two or more income earners, 76% of households with six figure incomes have two or more income earners.^[8] Furthermore people are most likely to marry their professional and societal equals. It therefore becomes apparent that the majority of households with incomes exceeding the six figure mark are the result of an economic as well as personal union between two economic equals. Today, two nurses, each making $55,000 a year, can easily outearn a single attorney who makes the median of $95,000 annually.^[36][18] Despite household income rising drastically through the union of two economic equals, neither individual has advanced his or her function and position within society. Yet the household (not individual) may have become more affluent, assuming an increase in household members does not off-set the dual-income derived gains.

Extreme affluence

The wide income discrepancies within the top 1.5% of households.

• American billionaires

Today there are approximately 146,000 (0.1%) households with incomes exceeding $1,500,000, while the top 0.01% or 11,000 households had incomes exceeding $5,500,000. The 400 highest tax payers in the nation had gross annual household incomes exceeding $87,000,000. Household incomes for this group have risen more dramatically than for any other. As a result the gap between those who make less than one and half million dollars annually (99.9% of households) and those who make more (0.1%) has been steadily increasing, prompting The New York Times to proclaim that the "Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind." Indeed the income disparities within the top 1.5% are quite drastic. While households in the top 1.5% of households had incomes exceeding $250,000, 443% above the national median, their incomes were still 2200% lower than those of the top .01% of houseolds. One can therefore conclude that any household, even those with incomes of $250,000 annually are relatively poor when compared to the top .1%, who in turn are relatively poor compared to the top 0.000267%, the top 400 taxpaying households.^[37]

See also

• Economy of the United States
• States of the United States of America by income

References

External links

• US Census Bureau, personal income forum
• US Census Bureau, household income forum
• Alternate income measures forum

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