Aug 14, 2023 - News
What it takes to be among the 1% in Illinois
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You need to make at least $660,000 a year to be among the top 1% of earners in Illinois.
- That's a little bit more than the national household figure of $652,700, according to a recent SmartAsset analysis of IRS tax filer data.
The big picture: The top 1% of U.S. families by wealth held more than a third of the country's total wealth in 2019, the Congressional Budget Office reported last year.
- Meanwhile, "families in the bottom half ... held only 2% of total wealth" in 2019, per the CBO report.
Zoom in: The median household income in Illinois is more than $72,500, per census data. In Chicago, it's around $65,800.
Zoom out: Nationally, joining the 1% club is most expensive in Connecticut, where residents need to make at least $952,900 to be a member.
- It's cheapest in West Virginia, where residents need to make $367,600 to be among the state's top earners.
Yes, but: Connecticut is also home to the highest effective tax rate for high earners, at 28.4%.
- Of course, the ultra-wealthy have myriad means of reducing their actual tax burdens.