Wage Statistics for 2009: Do You Think You Are In The Top 1%?

Sunday, November 07, 2010
www.socialsecurity.gov,

A new chart from the Social Security administration, using W-2 tax data, shows that the number of Americans who are actually part of the top 1% of wage earners in the United States is precious few.

There were 72 American tax filers earning more than $50 million in 2009 and averaged approximately $84 million per year in compensation.

Based on data in the SSA table, about 65.7 percent of wage earners had net compensation less than or equal to the $39,054.62 raw average wage. By definition, 50 percent of wage earners had net compensation less than or equal to the median wage, which is estimated to be $26,261.29 for 2009.

Read that again, the median wage in 2009 was estimated to be $26,261.29

Lets look at some numbers...

Population:
The U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division puts the current population of the United States of America at 307,006,550.

Wage Earners OVER $250,000.00 by the numbers:

Net compensation interval	Number	Percent of total	Average amount
250,000.00 — 299,999.99	368,345	99.45006	272,309.01
300,000.00 — 349,999.99	217,974	99.59449	322,772.36
350,000.00 — 399,999.99	142,454	99.68888	373,184.04
400,000.00 — 449,999.99	99,121	99.75456	423,280.40
450,000.00 — 499,999.99	71,229	99.80176	473,738.46
500,000.00 — 999,999.99	221,035	99.94822	663,682.00
1,000,000.00 — 1,499,999.99	39,938	99.97468	1,199,920.55
1,500,000.00 — 1,999,999.99	14,569	99.98434	1,715,940.91
2,000,000.00 — 2,499,999.99	7,152	99.98907	2,227,253.08
2,500,000.00 — 2,999,999.99	4,166	99.99184	2,728,998.10
3,000,000.00 — 3,499,999.99	2,730	99.99364	3,232,130.37
3,500,000.00 — 3,999,999.99	1,841	99.99486	3,732,044.23
4,000,000.00 — 4,499,999.99	1,415	99.99580	4,238,111.23
4,500,000.00 — 4,999,999.99	1,029	99.99648	4,726,929.13
5,000,000.00 — 9,999,999.99	3,689	99.99893	6,766,642.90
10,000,000.00 — 19,999,999.99	1,193	99.99972	13,363,130.75
20,000,000.00 — 49,999,999.99	353	99.99995	28,711,102.15
50,000,000.00 and over	72	100.00000	84,132,717.67

View the complete SSA Wage Statistics Chart for 2009

In order to be considered one of the top 1% percent of money earners in the United States of America, you must earn $250,000.00+ per year. What's thetakeaway? 98.7% of the population earns less.

1,198,305 people earn more than $250,000.00 per year.

305,808,245 people earn less than $250,000.00 per year.

In order to fall among of the top 2.5% percent of money earners in the United States of America, you must earn $200,000.00+ per year.

Wage earners reporting net compensation of $50 million or more by year:
1995 – 45
1996 – 69
1997 – 13
1998 – 26
1999 – 87
2000 – 91
2001 – 58
2002 – 39
2003 – 32
2004 – 94
2005 – 102
2006 – 126
2007 – 151
2008 – 131
2009 – 72