The concept of the "one percent" has captured the American public's imagination in the last few years. The phrase crops up everywhere – from presidential debates to signs at protests.

But precise as the phrase seems, it's a murky term. Let's try to clear it up today: who are the top one percent by income and net worth in the United States?

Who are the top one percent by income?

$475,116 is the cutoff for a top 1% household income in the United States in 2019.

The top 1% household income is not the final word. Households might have quite a few people working – it is usually more appropriate to break down the 1% for individual workers, or by age. (Or, even by state or city).

Let's look at some of the other ways to measure the top one percent by income.

Income of the Top 10% and Top 1% Household and Worker

Percentile Threshold 10.00% 1.00% Individual Income $116,250.00 $328,551.00 Household Income $184,200.00 $475,116.00

You can find the original source (and methodology) in these posts:

Individual, household, and sex isn't the only way to break income down, however.

These calculators and posts divide the population into even finer groups. Since it isn't always appropriate to compare workers in different cities or workers of different ages, these posts will help answer your specific questions:

The data in these tools and posts is from the 2019 Current Population Survey survey, which means income earned between January and December of 2018.

Who are the top one percent by net worth?

The top one percent of household net worth starts at $10,374,030.10.

(This net worth threshold is as of 2016. See below.)

Net worth tends to have an even more extreme spread than income does. While many households in the United States have zero or negative net worth, the same statement isn't valid for income. Household income also reflects transfer payments, while the government isn't (really) in the business of transferring wealth.

Net Worth of the 10%, 1%, and .1% Households

Percentile Threshold 10% 2% 1% 0.10% Net Worth $1,182,390.36 $5,816,220.17 $10,374,030.10 $43,090,281.00

Looking at the one percent by net worth is more useful than income. If we had our way, a view of the top 10%, 1%, and .1% would concentrate on accumulated wealth, not affluence.

This data comes from the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve. (This is the newest data in early 2020, we don't expect an update until around October or November). We calculated these breakpoints for our American net worths and net worth percentiles article.

Clarity Around the Top 1%

As you can imagine, since there are a few ways to define the top 1% the topic inspires a number of questions. I've done my best to address the most common questions around the American top 1% here.

Does top one percent mean by income or by net worth?

Net worth is a better way to rank the top one percent than income.

If you do use income to determine the top one percent of individuals, individual income is the best choice for determining the one percent. Net worth is a better way to rank the top one percent than income. DQYDJ Household income disguises the true income figure when there are multiple earners in a household. For example, a household may have two working spouses or a Millennial living at home. Household income also doesn't account for the spending difference in household sizes. Using net worth to decide on the one percent threshold is even better.

Household net worth sidesteps spending and cost of living questions because net worth is by definition not spent. Regardless of household size or location, net worth is always unspent resources.

Net worth is the accurate measure of how much 'extra 'a household has accumulated. (Top one percent net worth households show up as a hockey stick in inequality, too.)

Is there a correlation between income and net worth?

There is some correlation between wealth and income, but it's not as high as you might suspect - and it changes by age. Wealth is truly the marker of the highest strata.

One interesting stat: going from the top 10% of wealth to the top 1% requires a significant jump while income "only" requires a much smaller bump.

How many people are in the top 1%?

Depending on your preference, there are roughly 1,286,744 households in the top one percent or 1,742,799 workers.

Are millionaires in the top 1%?

No. Millionaires are in roughly the top 10% of net worth in America, but nowhere near the top 1%.

A household with $1,000,000 in net worth needs to approximately 10x their wealth to be in the top 1%. And those are 2016 numbers – expect the numbers to increase with 2020's survey release.

See more data on millionaires in America.

At what point are you considered a millionaire?

Being a millionaire means you have accumulated one million dollars in net worth, it doesn't mean you earn one million dollars a year. For net worth, you sum all of your assets and subtract all of your debts to come up with a number of dollars you would have if you liquidated everything.

You should include your primary home in your net worth.

What percentage of wealth is held by the top 1%?

In the second quarter of 2019, the top 1% of households and nonprofit organizations held 32.4% of all net worth in the United States.

What percentage of wealth is held by the bottom 50%?

In the second quarter of 2019, the lower 50% of households and nonprofit organizations held 1.9% of all net worth in the United States.

What is the average and median net worth by age?

Age Average Net Worth Median Net Worth 18-24 $93,982.80 $4,394.53 25-29 $39,565.88 $8,971.58 30-34 $95,235.53 $29,125.08 35-39 $257,581.86 $40,666.52 40-44 $316,660.61 $87,842.71 45-49 $599,194.17 $105,717.43 50-54 $838,702.95 $137,866.81 55-59 $1,150,037.78 $168,044.19 60-64 $1,180,377.62 $224,775.17 65-69 $1,056,483.97 $209,575.26 70-74 $1,062,427.63 $233,614.37 75-79 $1,097,415.06 $242,699.75 80+ $1,039,818.04 $270,904.40

You can find the methodology behind this data in the net worth by age calculator.

What's your preferred measure? Who are the one percent?