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A quarter of Americans earning over $175,000 consider themselves to be “poor” or “very poor” despite being in the top 10% of United States tax filers.
This head-scratching data comes from a recent Bloomberg survey of over 1,000 American workers making at least $175,000 a year.
Over half of respondents in the survey said they worry about money and 25 percent believe they’ll be worse off financially than their parents.
“I’m just broke all the time,” said New York City resident Jane Edwards, who makes about $180,000 a year.
Tiouba Parris has an annual salary of $160,000, plus a side hustle that adds around $10,000 more to his income.
“Ten years ago if I had told myself I was making the money I am now, I’d be flabbergasted. I would’ve said I was living it up,” Parris said. “Now, while I’m financially secure, it doesn’t feel like I’m making the dollar amount I’m making.”
Tom Thompson has an annual household income of about $450,000, a home worth almost $400,000 in Dallas and a condo in Hawaii. He also doesn’t think he is rich.
“My personal definition of rich is the ability to buy or participate without concern, and I do not have that,” he said.
Needless to say, a lot of people don’t feel much sympathy for them and others like them.
If you're making $175k+ and feel "poor" you are probably making "poor" financial decisions.
— PostPortal AI (@Infinity_Verse8) August 14, 2023
“Sounds like a combination of greed and poor financial decisions,” someone else commented.
How about you ask the average American earning 50k per year how they feel?
— sealteamvix (@sealteamvix) August 14, 2023
For the record, the average annual income in the United States is $75,203, according to the Census Bureau.
I mean…how do you argue with people like this? They are, empirically, wrong. By any standard. In any part of the world. At any point in history. But their perception fuels their emotions and drive their behavior. https://t.co/toSYulpfhe
— Joseph R Reagan (@JosephRReagan) August 14, 2023
Another recent survey conducted by Bankrate revealed “Americans feel they’d need to earn approximately $233,000 a year on average to be secure or comfortable with their finances.”
Those survey respondents also felt that they needed to earn around $483,000 on average to consider themselves to be rich. (Not that Tom Thompson would agree.)
In that survey, Generation X (ages 43-58) at 19 percent was the least likely to feel financially secure compared to other generations.
25 percent of Generation Z (ages 18-26), 28 percent of millennials (ages 27-42), and 32 percent of baby boomers (ages 59-77) all felt better about their financial situations.
One thing is for sure, they certainly don’t make millionaires like the used to these days.