This is an extension of the “Wealth on earth 2017” post that outlines the global perspective on wealth. This one is focused on the USA alone.
The data is based on the ‘Global Wealth Databook’ by Credit Suisse — a very extensive and detailed report. Naturally, the figures quoted are huge and sometimes hard to digest. This post is designed to simplify it and let you check where you fit in all this.
In 2017 there were about 241 Million adults in the USA and the entire wealth of everyone was $93.5 Trillion.
Imagine the entire US population is scaled down into an imaginable stadium with ‘only’ 10,000 people. Each person in the stadium represents 24,000 people.
You’re invited to be one of the 10,000
In a perfectly egalitarian society, every adult would have $388k. You, (like every other person in the stadium who represents another 23,999 adults), would be the happy custodian of $9.3B
But the USA isn’t egalitarian. The US Gini coefficient in 2017 was 85.9 (0 is equal, the higher the number, the greater the degree of inequality).
So where do you fit in this?
First, you need to figure out what’s your personal wealth.
To do that, you need to add up the value of all your possessions- tangible and financial, minus any debt you may have.
Now checkout where you fit based on your own personal wealth:
- Under $10k — 29% of the people share similar wealth as yours.
- $10k-$100k — at least 2,859 in the stadium own less than you do. Your cohort is 3,113 people.
- $100k-$1m — you own more than at 5,972 in the stadium and you’re cohort is 3,387 people.
- $1m-$5m —at least as far a wealth go, you’re very lucky. Almost 95% of the people here own less than you. There are only 525 people that have similar net worth to yours.
- $5m-$10m — among the entire 10,000 people, only 75 share similar net worth to yours.
- $10m-$50m — you are one of 37 lucky people who have similar net worth in the entire stadium.
- $50m-$100m — of the 10,000 people in the stadium, it is only you and another person who share a similar net worth. Only one person has more than you.
- If your net worth is $100m or more, it means that you own more than anyone else in the stadium.
In 2017, there were about 72,000 ‘Ultra High Net Worth’ individuals in the USA (net worth of more than $50m). The actual numbers according to the report are: 47,252 ($50–100m), 22,688 ($100–500m), 1,363 ($500m-1B)
and 714 Billionaires.
Please checkout the original post — “Wealth on Earth 2017”.
If you’d like me to run the same simulation for a specific country, simply ask in the comments part.
