What it takes to be among the 1% in Illinois

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.