Income Distribution in the United States – Exactly how much to qualify as top 1%

The Tax Policy Center has updated its figures on the income distribution in America.

For all tax units:
to be in the top 1% your household has to earn $506,553 or more.
the top 2% earn $360,435 or more
the top 3% earn $290,860 or more
the top 0.5% earn $815,868 or more
the top 0.1% earn $2,070,574 or more

For joint filers:
to be in the top 1% your household has to earn $761,938 or more.
the top 2% earn $477,128 or more
the top 3% earn $391,010 or more
the top 0.5% earn $1,096,732 or more
the top 0.1% earn $2,998,714 or more

Below is the chart for the top 20% and the bottom 20%.

The US census Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010 This report has historical data on income at various percentile rankings, but their top category is the 95th percentile. The 95th percentile of income has been about 180,000 in the 2000 to 2010 period.

Here is an older analysis of income distribution from 2004, which looks at total income by category.

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