To be a part of the top 5% of earners in an expensive state like New York, where taxes and real-estate costs are among the highest in the country, you'll need to bring in a lot of money.
To determine the average income residents earn in each state and Washington, D.C., financial website GOBankingRates analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017 American Community Survey and the Economic Policy Institute's income inequality report.
Here's what how much you have to earn to be in the top 5% in New York state:
- Average top 5% annual income: $480,780
- Minimum threshold needed to make the top 5%: $250,000
"New York is one of the eight states (including Washington, D.C.) that require at least $250,000 in income to crack the top 5%," GOBankingRates reports. The list also includes notoriously pricey places such as California, Connecticut and New Jersey.
New York's top 1% earn even more: about $2.2 million on average. That's nearly 42 times the average income earned by the bottom 99%, $50,107, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The minimum annual income needed to crack the state's top 1% is $550,174, which is 30% higher than the national threshold of $421,926.
While location certainly plays a role in how much money is needed to be considered rich, wealth is also a mindset, according to a recent poll from data firm YouGov.
"Although people become less likely to consider themselves poor the more money they make," the report says, "they don't really become much more likely to consider themselves rich."
Of those earning between $40,000 and $60,000 a year, 7% consider themselves "rich." But when it comes to high-earners, those making $90,000 to $150,000 a year, just 9% consider themselves "rich" and 5% actually classify themselves as "poor."
"The higher your income," the report concludes, "the higher you set the bar."
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