Have you ever wondered how much money high earners earn? Once you know how much the top earners earn, you can better become the top earner yourself. After all, everything is relative when it comes to money.
Americans are rich on a global scale. With a median household income of about $76,000, America consistently ranks among the 20 richest countries in the world. Many of the best salaried people in the world live here in our great country. Being born in a rich country makes us very happy.
The other rich countries with a higher GDP per capita than America are Liechtenstein ($139), Qatar, Monaco, Macau, Luxembourg, Bermuda, Singapore, Isle of Man, Brunei, Ireland, Norway, Falkland Islands, UAB, S. Maarten, Kuwait and Gibraltar. Countries with a GDP per capita similar to that of America include Hong Kong, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia.
If at birth you had the mental capacity to decide where to live for most of your life, living in one of the 20 richest countries will probably also help you become one of the main earners.
Even if you end up being the most mediocre producer, you are still miles ahead of much of the world. It's a pity that many of us can't choose where to grow up and earn a living. Therefore, it is nice to understand how we compare with the rest of the world to give us perspective.
Summary of tax data for high-income earners
Here is the IRS data that shows what high earners earned in 2015. A high earner is considered to be someone who has a top income of 10%, 5% and 1%. Note how much high earners earn today, thanks in part to Inflation.
There's not a lot of data on the mega-rich who rank in the top 0.1%. However, I am also writing a huge article highlighting the people who earn over a Million dollars a year and how.
Based on an earlier survey study of more than 1000 years on Financial Samurai, about 80% of readers rank in the top 25% of income (more than $95,000). Good to know that many of you are doing well.
The table also tells us a number of things about equality or inequality, namely that the richest 1% of taxpayers pay 38% of all income taxes, but only have a 20% share of the total AGI.
In addition, the richest 50% of taxpayers pay practically all federal taxes in the country (97.3%) and have 87.25% of the total AGI. It could easily be argued that the rich pay more than their fair share of income taxes..
This IRS chart is at the origin of the often politically joked argument that 47% of American employees do not pay federal income tax.
If you exercise a little more and compare the richest 25% of American income to the top 10 countries in the world with per capita income, you can see how happy most of us are.
The other rich countries with a higher GDP per capita than America are Liechtenstein ($139), Qatar, Monaco, Macau, Luxembourg, Bermuda, Singapore, Isle of Man, Brunei, Ireland, Norway, Falkland Islands, UAB, S. Maarten, Kuwait and Gibraltar. Countries with a GDP per capita similar to that of America include Hong Kong, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia.
If at birth you had the mental capacity to decide where to live for most of your life, living in one of the 20 richest countries will probably also help you become one of the main earners.
Even if you end up being the most mediocre producer, you are still miles ahead of much of the world. It's a pity that many of us can't choose where to grow up and earn a living. Therefore, it is nice to understand how we compare with the rest of the world to give us perspective.
Summary of tax data for high-income earners
Here is the IRS data that shows what high earners earned in 2015. A high earner is considered to be someone who has a top income of 10%, 5% and 1%. Note how much high earners earn today, thanks in part to Inflation.
There's not a lot of data on the mega-rich who rank in the top 0.1%. However, I am also writing a huge article highlighting the people who earn over a Million dollars a year and how.
Based on an earlier survey study of more than 1000 years on Financial Samurai, about 80% of readers rank in the top 25% of income (more than $95,000). Good to know that many of you are doing well.
The table also tells us a number of things about equality or inequality, namely that the richest 1% of taxpayers pay 38% of all income taxes, but only have a 20% share of the total AGI.
In addition, the richest 50% of taxpayers pay practically all federal taxes in the country (97.3%) and have 87.25% of the total AGI. It could easily be argued that the rich pay more than their fair share of income taxes..
This IRS chart is at the origin of the often politically joked argument that 47% of American employees do not pay federal income tax.
If you exercise a little more and compare the richest 25% of American income to the top 10 countries in the world with per capita income, you can see how happy most of us are. 
