Where Do You Stand on America's Wealth Spectrum?

[Herman Munster]

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103815/Where-Do-You-Stand-on-America's-Wealth-Spectrum

The best way to give people a sense of where they stand is to lay out some data. Every three years the Federal Reserve Board conducts a national survey that tracks the financial health of American households.

The Fed slices and dices this stuff with the vigor of an Iron Chef; the result is a rich, if dry, array of offerings on household net worth, pension and income levels, plus other demographic side dishes.

Whenever I slip these tidbits into cocktail party chatter, people are surprised to realize how little money it takes to win a gold star from the Fed. If you and yours are bringing in $40,000 a year, you're doing better than half the households in America.

Or, as a Washington think tank recently pointed out: If you're a teacher married to a policeman, your combined household income puts you in the top 25 percent of all households in the nation.

Below you'll find the average income picture sliced into income levels. Think of this chart as a parking ramp. If your household income is $170,000, you're among the nation's top 10 percent wage earners and get to park on the top floor.

Anything in six figures means you're in the top 20 percent and get to park on the floor right below.

Annual income parking ramp

Income level (percentile) Median income (rounded)
Level VI (90 to 100) $170,000
Level V (80 to 89.9) $99,000
Level IV (60 to 79.9) $65,000
Level III (40 to 59.9) $40,000
Level II (20 to 39.9) $24,000
Level I (less than 20) $10,000

[jody]

1. Parking on Level VI means you have further to fall in the coming depression. n/t

[LSparkle]

2. Like I don't get reminded of where I stand enough when I park at work

It's the same thing -- P1, you're somebody; P2, you're in the middle; P3, you're nobody. I park on P3 ...

[sam sarrha]

3. the big variable is ..'disposable' income, you can make $84k, but with kids or circumstance still ...

poor.. while the richest who pay little or no taxes and don't feel they should pay dues to be able to make that much here.. are totally off the charts for disposable income. that is why Reagan's 'cross the board tax cuts were particularly unfair

[cuke]

4. Tell me where the bootheel of America's Wealth Spectrum is

and I'll tell you where I am

[mcscajun]

5. At the end of 2002, I was at Level IV.5

Today, I'm standing just a tiny tiny bit above Level II.

Thanks a lot, Bush, Cheney, et al.