http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/ie4.html
By household: (from the census)
Code:
Year 10th 20th 50th 80th 90th 95th
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2001 $10,686 $17,970 $42,100 $83,500 $113,628 $150,499
150k$ US, in 2001, was top 5%.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/250.html
Individual data:
Code:
Year Top 1% Top 5% Top 10% Top 25% Top 50%
2001 $292,913 $127,904 $92,754 $56,085 $28,528
2004 $328,049 $137,056 $99,112 $60,041 $30,122
(income tax data -- using "AGI")
NYT:
Quote:
They are not just a few Croesus-like rarities. Draw a line under the top 0.1 percent of income earners - the top one-thousandth. Above that line are about 145,000 taxpayers, each with at least $1.6 million in income and often much more.
The average income for the top 0.1 percent was $3 million in 2002, the latest year for which averages are available. That number is two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980. No other income group rose nearly as fast.
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(exerpt)
So:
Top 50%: $30,122+
Top 25%: $60,041+
Top 10%:$99,112+
Top 5%: $137,056+
Top 1%: $328,049+
Top 0.1%: $1,600,000+
The top 5% cutoff, divided by the top 25% cutoff, is about 2.
The top 1% cutoff, divided by the top 5% cutoff, is about 3.
In other words, the top 25% are closer in wealth to the top 5% than the top 5% are to the top 1%.
The top 0.1% cutoff divided by the top 1% cutoff is about 5.
So the top 1% are further from the top 0.1% than the top 10% are to the top 1%.
There is an exponential distribution going on here.