Germany's official statistics call an income above twice the median “income-rich”; the Pew Research Center calls households above twice the median “upper-income,” each on its own data. The top 10% of US households start at $261,300 a year before taxes (Census, 2025). US median family net worth is $215,900, the mean $1,241,500 (Federal Reserve, 2025).
Dieser Artikel auf Deutsch: Ab wann ist man reich? Die Grenzen in Zahlen
Where a household stands depends on which number you look at: what it earns in a year, or what it owns. If you live in Germany, our net worth percentile calculator shows where your household's net worth falls.
What counts as rich, by definition?
In Germany, people count as income-rich when their equivalized income is more than 200% of the median, the income in the exact middle1,2. Equivalized income is household net income divided by a weighted head count: 1 for the first adult, 0.5 for everyone else 14 or older, and 0.3 for each child under 141. Germany's government indicator calls this a scientific convention, and a disputed one3.
The German term is deliberate: the Microcensus behind it records income from capital but not the assets themselves, so the statistics speak only of being income-rich1. The indicator's notes add that the line starts at incomes many people would not yet call rich, yet an income at the line already sits inside the top tenth of incomes3.
Pew uses the same multiplier: it calls households “upper-income” when their size-adjusted income is more than double the US median4. By Pew's count, 19% of Americans lived in upper-income households in 20234.
What household income makes you rich in the US?
In 2025, a US household needed $261,300 a year before taxes to reach the top 10% of incomes and $354,000 to reach the 95th percentile5,6. The median household had $87,4605. These are household money incomes, counted before income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare deductions, and they leave out certain receipts such as capital gains5.
Pew publishes its upper-income line in a report and in a calculator, each built on a different survey. In its 2024 report, Pew puts upper-income households of three above $183,000 a year, based on 2022 incomes from the 2023 CPS ASEC and expressed in 2023 dollars4. Pew's income calculator uses the 2022 American Community Survey7. Its national upper-income line is $169,800 for a household of three, in 2022 dollars, with incomes adjusted for household size and metro-area cost of living7.
What net worth makes you rich?
In 2025, the median US family had a net worth of $215,900; the mean was $1,241,500, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances8. Among families in the top decile of net worth, the median was $4,935,2008. That is the middle of the wealthiest group, not the point where it starts.
In Germany, the Bundesbank's 2023 survey measures net worth per household. The median household had €103,200, and the 90th percentile, the line into the wealthiest tenth, was €779,500. At €1,227,900, the 95th percentile is the last row of the Bundesbank's table9,10. The mean was €324,800, 3.1 times the median (our calculation)9.
Take a couple in Germany without children, with a joint net income of €6,000 a month and €250,000 in net worth (our example). Their income is below the line for couples: €7,223 a month, by our calculation from the national median (income year 2024)1,11. So they are not income-rich. For their net worth, we interpolated between the Bundesbank's 60th and 70th percentiles9.
By our estimate, about 64% of German households own less than this couple9.
Among couples without children, though, the median is €236,300, so this couple sits about in the middle of its own household type9.
Living in Germany? Our net worth percentile calculator places your own household in the Bundesbank's distribution.
The numbers at a glance
Income and wealth figures for the US and Germany, with unit, source, and year| Yardstick | Number | Unit | Source | Data year |
|---|
| US household income, median | $87,460 | household, per year, before taxes | Census Bureau5 | 2025 |
| US household income, 90th / 95th percentile | $261,300 / $354,000 | household, per year, before taxes | Census Bureau5,6 | 2025 |
| Pew upper-income line, report (CPS data) | above $183,000 | household of three, per year, size-adjusted | Pew Research Center4 | 2022 incomes, in 2023 dollars4 |
| Pew upper-income line, calculator (ACS data, national) | above $169,800 | household of three, per year, size- and cost-of-living-adjusted | Pew Research Center7 | 2022 dollars |
| US family net worth, median / mean | $215,900 / $1,241,500 | family | Federal Reserve8 | 2025 |
| Median net worth of the top decile by net worth | $4,935,200 (group median, not an entry line) | family | Federal Reserve8 | 2025 |
| Germany, household net worth: median / 90th / 95th percentile | €103,200 / €779,500 / €1,227,900 (table ends at the 95th) | household | Bundesbank9 | 2023 |
| Germany, income-rich line for a single person | €4,815 a month, €57,782 a year | person living alone, net | Our calculation from the national median of Germany's statistical offices in MZ-SILC, a survey of the previous year's income11,12 | income year 2024 |
| Germany, perceived line | €7,685 a month (mean of answers) | personal net income | Seventh Poverty and Wealth Report10 | 2023 survey |
| Income-rich (Germany), upper-income (Pew) | more than 200% of the median of each source's own income measure | depends on the source | German statistical offices, Pew Research Center1,4 | definition |
Why does rich feel higher than the statistics say?
In a 2023 survey reported in Germany's Seventh Poverty and Wealth Report (1,415 answers to this question), respondents said, on average, that a person is rich once their personal net income reaches €7,685 a month10. Under the usual definition, the report estimates the line for 2023 at €4,346. The chart that shows this estimate names SOEP data and the same survey as its basis10. Our €4,815 a month for a single person applies the same definition to a different survey (MZ-SILC) and a later income year (2024)11.
The higher people's own income, the higher they set the perceived line. People in the lower income groups put it 34% above the statistical figure, people with high incomes 72% above, and income-rich respondents 117% above (high statistical uncertainty)10. The report calls this pattern consistent with the observation that people mostly compare incomes with the people around them, or usually see themselves closer to the middle than they are10.
Our take: rich is a position relative to others. For where you stand, net worth says more than salary, because an income can stop while wealth keeps you afloat. Compare yourself with the median of your own household type, never with the mean.
How is wealth split worldwide?
According to the World Inequality Report 2026, the global top 10% owned 75% of total personal wealth in 2025 and captured 53% of total income13. The top 1% alone control 37% of global wealth14.
Frequently asked questions
Is a million dollars in net worth rich?
In the US, it puts a family above the median of $215,900 and below the mean of $1,241,500, according to the Federal Reserve's 2025 survey8. The median of the top decile by net worth, $4,935,200, is the middle of that group, not its entry line8. In Germany, a household with a million euros in net worth sits above the Bundesbank's 90th percentile of €779,500 and below its 95th of €1,227,900 (2023)9.
What household income is considered rich?
Census data show where a household ranks: in 2025, the top 10% of US households started at $261,300 a year before taxes, and the 95th percentile at $354,0005,6. Pew calls households with more than double the median income, after adjusting for household size, “upper-income.”4
Is $200,000 a year rich?
In 2025, a household income of $200,000 a year before taxes was inside the top fifth of US households, which started at $182,400, but below the top 10%, which started at $261,300, according to the Census Bureau5,6. These are household figures, so compare them with your household's total income5.
Income or net worth: which defines rich?
Germany's official line looks at income only: the Microcensus behind it records income from capital but not the assets themselves1. Net worth is measured in separate surveys: the Federal Reserve puts the median US family at $215,900 (2025), the Bundesbank puts the median German household at €103,200 (2023)8,9. For your own position, we would look at net worth first.
Does rich depend on where you live?
Yes. Pew's income ranges vary with the cost of living in metropolitan areas and with household size7. Germany's official 2025 lines are preliminary Microcensus results against regional medians: for a single person, €4,575.86 a month in the former West Germany without Berlin, €4,223.20 in the eastern states including Berlin, and €4,840.96 in Bavaria15. They rest on household net income for the month before the interview, a figure the statistical offices say is understated2. Our €4,815 uses the national median from MZ-SILC, which asks about the previous year's income11,12.
What is considered rich in Germany?
By our calculation, which applies the definition of Germany's official statistics to the national median, the line for a single person is about €4,815 net a month, or €57,782 a year (income year 2024)1,11. The monthly figure is a twelfth of that yearly line, so compare €57,782 with your yearly net income, not one month's pay. For wealth, the Bundesbank's 2023 survey puts the 90th percentile of household net worth at €779,500 and the 95th at €1,227,9009.
Sources
Several sources are German official statistics and are in German.
- Federal and State Statistical Offices of Germany: definition of the income-richness rate (from 2020). Official social reporting (in German). statistikportal.de/sites/default/files/2022-04/Einkommensreichtumsquote_ab%202020.pdf (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Federal and State Statistical Offices of Germany: definition of the median and the income-richness threshold (from 2020). Official social reporting (in German). statistikportal.de/sites/default/files/2022-04/Median%20und%20Einkommensreichtumsschwelle_ab%202020.pdf (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs: Poverty and Wealth Report, indicator R01, income richness (in German). armuts-und-reichtumsbericht.de/DE/Indikatoren/Reichtum/Einkommensreichtum/einkommensreichtum.html (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Pew Research Center (Kochhar, R.): The State of the American Middle Class. May 31, 2024. pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/RE_2024.05.31_American-Middle-Class_FINAL.pdf (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- U.S. Census Bureau: Income in the United States: 2025. Current Population Reports P60-289. www2.census.gov/library/publications/2026/demo/p60-289.pdf (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- U.S. Census Bureau: Income in the United States: 2025, Table 6: Selected Measures of Household Income Dispersion (Excel). www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/p60/289/table6.xlsx (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Pew Research Center: Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator. September 16, 2024. pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/16/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances. Federal Reserve Bulletin, 2026. doi:10.17016/8799.1 (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Deutsche Bundesbank: Panel on Household Finances (PHF), 2023 survey. Table annex to the Monthly Report of April 2025 (Excel, in German). publikationen.bundesbank.de/caas/v1/media/955436/data/dbdce1fbc3b7f0ac7fc8b3727c17112a (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Federal Government of Germany: Seventh Poverty and Wealth Report. Bundestag printed paper 21/3250, December 9, 2025 (in German). dserver.bundestag.de/btd/21/032/2103250.pdf (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Federal and State Statistical Offices of Germany: Table AR.8, median and mean equivalized net income (MZ-SILC). Official social reporting (in German). statistikportal.de/sites/default/files/2026-04/AR.8%20Median%20und%20Durchschnitt%20des%20Netto%C3%A4quivalenzeinkommens%2C%20Bundesl%C3%A4nder.xlsx (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Federal and State Statistical Offices of Germany: use of MZ-SILC for indicators measured against the national median. Note, July 2025 (in German). statistikportal.de/sites/default/files/2025-07/Erl%C3%A4uterung%20zum%20Bundesmedian_8.pdf (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- World Inequality Lab: World Inequality Report 2026, Executive Summary. wir2026.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2025/11/WIR26_Executive_Summary_English.pdf (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- World Inequality Lab: World Inequality Report 2026. wir2026.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2026/09/World_Inequality_Report_2026.pdf (retrieved October 11, 2026)
- Federal and State Statistical Offices of Germany: Table A.11, medians and income-richness thresholds by state (Microcensus). Official social reporting (in German). statistikportal.de/sites/default/files/2026-05/A11%20Mediane%20und%20Einkommensreichtumsschwellen.xlsx (retrieved October 11, 2026)
Published November 1, 2026
Not investment or tax advice. Our own calculations are labeled as such, with their assumptions shown.
Keep exploring
For a German household, our net worth percentile calculator shows where you stand. Our FIRE calculator works out how much wealth would make you financially independent, and our emergency fund calculator shows how big your emergency fund should be. More guides live in the Money section.
