Posted on 01/27/2019 5:41:47 AM PST by Gamecock
Who are America’s rich?
“Not me” is the answer from a surprising segment of the population, including many people making six figures and above. Some 87% of people who make at least $90,000 a year said they weren’t rich or poor, according to new findings from polling company YouGov. (The survey asked 1,163 Americans how much money someone needs to be rich or poor.)
When it comes to who’s poor, most respondents (68%) thought people who make the equivalent of the federal minimum wage ($7.25 an hour, or $15,080 a year) fell into that category. “The point at which most Americans think you’ve escaped being poor comes at around $30,000,” wrote YouGov’s lead data journalist Matthew Smith.
People start to be considered “rich” when they make at least $90,000, the survey found. But only 44% of poll participants said someone making $90,000 a year was rich. Meanwhile, hitting those six figures seems to make all the difference: 56% of those surveyed said they considered people who earn $100,000 a year rich.
Josh Bivens, research director at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, said the findings relate to the growing gap between the rich and poor, and middle class and everyone else. The average annual income of America’s top 1% was $1.8 million in 2015, Bivens noted. That was a far cry from the $100,000 a year deemed rich in the survey he said.
But many people seemed to feel they exist in a middle zone between poverty and affluence, likely influenced by the cost of living in their respective towns and cities: 64% of the participants said they weren’t rich or poor. The survey sheds light on attitudes about poverty and affluence, and how they align with official calculations surrounding “haves” and “have nots.”
There are clear definitions of poverty in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for example, draws the 2019 poverty line at $25,750 per year for a four-person family. Some 12.3% of Americans lived in poverty in 2017, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures. The median household income was $61,372 in 2017, according to the Census.
YouGov’s survey on “rich” and “poor” labels arrives as income inequality has become a growing concern for many observers and policymakers. Lawmakers across the country are weighing whether to increase minimum hourly wages to $15. The District of Columbia and three states are planning to make $15 the minimum; cities including New York City, N.Y., San Francisco, Calif. and Seattle, Wash. are already there.
Being somewhere between rich and poor doesn’t necessarily mean living comfortably. Costs of living can vary widely across the country and many households have heavy debts and costs to contend with, like student-loan obligations or child-care bills. Likewise, a lack of savings for emergencies and retirement also make people feel financially unstable.
There are probably two things going on with the survey: An underestimation of how much more the top 1% earned and a broadening of what it means to be rich, Bivens said. “It mostly means something being less than yachts and mansions, free from economic anxiety about paying next month’s bills,” he added. That’s sadly something lots of people aspire to, but don’t experience.”
It may not be surprising that people making at least $90,000 didn’t view themselves as rich. With the nation’s highest earners so high above and the cost of housing in cities like New York and San Francisco and Seattle, it takes a lot of money to not be housing insecure, experts say. People earning $90,000 a year compare themselves to others, just like someone earning $180,000 a year.
“I think that’s a very human thing,” Bivens said.
Wanna know who’s “rich”? Everyone making more money than you.
Similarly, everyone who’s “poor” makes less than you.
There are only 2 questions that matter:
1) Are you happy with what you’re making?
2) Will you ever be able to retire semi-comfortably?
“56% of those surveyed said they considered people who earn $100,000 a year rich. “
Very dangerous.
It requires a whole ‘nuther level of stupid to think that.
Those who say the average IQ is 100 are simply mistaken.
That 56% is the petri dish for Bolsheviks. Dumb enough, and jealous enough.
Josh is either an idiot, a liar or both. This is one of the most asinine articles I have ever seen on this subject.
You don’t need to read this article. It is misleading at best and wrong otherwise.
I have never seen any data saying the top 1% earned at least 1.8mm a year in 2015. In July of 2018 this was reported:
“To be among the top 1 percent of U.S. earners, a family needs an income of $421,926, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute finds.”
The misinformation campaign starts with this and goes on.
Nothing but clap trap and codswallop.
The $400k or so is the minimum needed to be in the top 1%. The average income of those in that category is indeed several million:
How much you earn a year has nothing to do with being rich. It’s all about assets and having a yearly income guetanteed every year. Someone making $100,000 a year may be deep in debt and one paycheck away from being destitute.
90K is not rich. Sounds like a Rat greasing the skids for a tax hike. In much of the country 90K is break even with the areas cost of living.
If you live in NYC, San Francisco or Lis Angeles, $90K does not give you much. You’re barely getting by.
Together they are sending over $25,000 per year to the Federal government.
Over a 40-year working life that is ONE million dollars.
You are correct. This article and “research” is designed for support and not illumination. The goals include:
1. Create a large enough class who are envious to get their support and convince them you are on their side.
2. Create a new number to be “satisfied” with to live on. Create a lowered expectation to keep the masses mollified.
Every thing is relative to expectations. The communists have to create a lowered expectation amongst the pawns.
$90K a year after taxes is far from “rich”. It is better than getting by but there is no room for much but what you need. Minimal health insurance for just two of us is nearly $21,816 a year. Food, clothing and shelter another $20k and that is with a paid for house. After property taxes, insurance and maintenance what is left isn’t lush living. I consider that we live cheaply.
In 1978 this $90K was equivalent to about $27K, more than my Dad earned and about what I earned my first year out of high screwl when I was working about 70 hours a week straight time and getting paid for 85 hours. Back then we thought anyone making $40K a year, doctor money we called it, was well off. That is about $150K now.
90k ain’t rich.
The 6 figure rich of 1980 requires 300k to be equivalent today.
That's pretty close to my situation. I'm in Los Angeles, earn about $81K, and after state, federal, health, and retirement deductions, I live on $56K. One bedroom apartment, leased car... I have two retirement accounts but have only been paying into them 15 years, and I'm already 53 (I wasted a lot of time in graduate programs). I finally paid off my student loan last year and have been saving what I can since.
The thing for me is.... I don't feel rich... not because of what I can or cannot buy (there's very little I want) but because I have to continue to work for a living. If I didn't have to work, I'd move somewhere cheaper and live happily on half of what I earn here. If I had free time and yet my expenses were covered, I'd feel rich. It's free time I want, not money.
Man, the people you live with if you’re Section 8, though.... I’d rather put my whole income towards rent in a decent area than live with Section 8.
That's interesting.
Lots of people say they want to live well and die owing money, including Rush Limbaugh, who claims he wants to die broke and owing the IRS.
Not many manage to do it.
If you don't mind my asking, did he enjoy his life? Did he reach a ripe old age?
No worries if you'd rather not answer. Thanks.
That’s right; here in NJ a dozen miles west of NYC (in a very average neighborhood with old homes) $90K isn’t much at all.
Liberals define “rich” as anyone with a dollar more than they have.
Perfectly put.
Alexandria Ongoing-o Perplex is just such a case.
Too poor to pay a dentist (or veterinarian) to file her horse teeth down, or too damned busy clamoring for other people's money to get the damned file in there.
The federal extorting or taxes is mandatory. Although I’m not big into government ‘mandates’ I could agree with one that stipulates all wage earners contribute to a personal retirement plan. If young workers did this at even very small contributions over time those funds would grow their personal accounts thanks to compounding interest. As it is only the smart and disciplined ones would do this from the beginning— the rare ones among so much stupidity and ignorance.
My wife is extremely frugal - partially due to her Japanese cultural proclivity toward savings and partially due to her difficult childhood.
When I finally broke 6 figures, I thought she would express some pride in my hard work and we could enjoy some of the “better things in life”.
Nope. I did manage to negotiate a slight increase in my monthly allowance, but every other dime went direct to savings.
When I managed to make a very good trade in the market one year it was enough to pay off the mortgage - I thought a great Xmas present.
Nope. She was ‘irritated’ I didn’t consult her first on spending that much money.
Kids are nearly out of college without loans. We have no debt now.
I’m far from what I consider rich in $, but we are comfortable and could withstand a couple of bad strikes against us if need be. She keeps me very grounded. I’m socking it away and living simple. 15 more years and she might allow me to retire. ;-)
38 years old. Had heart valve replacement 4 months earlier. He chose to keep up his hard partying salesman lifestyle after the surgery. Left behind 3 young children and not enough life insurance. Amazingly his wife took his early death as a reason to live everyday like it might be her last. The same among us knew that is why he passed.
I would never..if you paid me to.
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