Affluence in The United States - Top Percentiles

Top Percentiles

Affluence and economic standing within society often are 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).

Data Top third Top quarter Top quintile Top 15% Top 10% Top 5% Top 3% Top 1.5% Top 0.1%
Household income
Lower threshold (annual gross income) $65,000 $80,000 $91,202 $100,000 $118,200 $166,200 $200,000 $250,000 $1,600,000
Exact Percentage of households 34.72% 25.60% 20.00% 17.80% 10.00% 5.00% 2.67% 1.50% 0.12%
Personal income (age 25+)
Lower threshold (annual gross income) $37,500 $47,500 $52,500 $62,500 $75,000 $100,000 N/A
Exact Percentage of individuals 33.55% 24.03% 19.74% 14.47% 10.29% 5.63% N/A

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006

Read more about this topic:  Affluence In The United States

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