In 2015, the top 1% of Americans made 26.3 times as much income as the bottom 99 percent – an increase from 2013, when they earned 25.3 times as much, according to a recent study released by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington, D.C. think tank.
The study found that from 2009 to 2015, the incomes of the top 1 percent grew faster than the incomes of the bottom 99% in 43 states and the District of Columbia.
While we’ve covered this study before, we thought it’d be helpful to visualize what it takes to enter the top 1% income bracket in each state. The below infographic map presents the minimum annual income required to be in the top one percent.
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A few key quick takeaways
The top five highest one percent income states are on the East Coast. They are…
- Connecticut ($701K)
- DC ($598K)
- New Jersey ($589K)
- Massachusetts ($583K)
- New York ($550K)
Here’s what it looks like at the lower end of the top one percent income states…
- Mississippi ($254K)
- Arkansas ($255K)
- New Mexico ($255K)
- West Virginia ($258K)
- Kentucky (275K)
- Alabama ($298K)
- Maine ($304)
- Hawaii ($311K)
- Idaho ($315K)
And a surprise: why is North Dakota not too far below a state like California, or only in a single category under New York?
- California ($515K)
- New York ($550K)
- North Dakota ($445K) …well, though it doesn’t have Manhattan – one of the largest financial centers in the world – North Dakota did have a recent oil boom up through 2014. In 2015 its top one percent income level was at an incredible $502K. But since 2015 due to a global decline in oil prices the number dropped to $445K.
Places with no state income taxes…
- Texas ($441K)
- Nevada ($341K)
- Alaska ($400K)
- Florida ($418)
- Wyoming ($406K)
- Washington (451K)
- South Dakota (407K)
To be in the top 1 percent nationally in 2015, a family needed an income of $421,926.
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So it turns out, you have to be rich, but not that rich…
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