This is the salary it takes to be considered rich in every state (2024)

What does it take to be considered rich in America? It depends a lot on where you live.

The richest of the rich live in Washington, D.C., where it takes a salary of $719,000 to land in the top 5% of earners. That's according to a recent analysis from GoBankingRates, which looks at the average household income of the top 5% of earners in each state, based on the latest data available from the 2022 American Community Survey.

The No. 1 richest state, meanwhile, is Connecticut, where residents have to bring in roughly $656,000 to be among the top earners.

Washington state has seen the most dramatic growth in what it takes to be rich in recent years, according to the report. In 2017, a salary of about $378,000 would land you in the 5% club. By 2022, the salary it takes to stay at that level is more than $544,000.

The roughly 44% increase can be attributed to growing wealth in Seattle, which has become a tech hub with fast-growing companies like Amazon headquartered in the area, says Andrew Murray, lead data content researcher at GoBankingRates.

Overall, wealthy Americans have gotten a lot richer in since 2017. Back then, only Connecticut and Washington, D.C., had a 5% top-earning threshold of $500,000.

Five years later, that's up to 11 U.S. states and D.C.: Washington, California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Virginia, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland and Connecticut.

This mostly has to do with the fiscal response to the pandemic, Murray says: "Robust Covid relief bolstered the economy, leading to boosted stock prices, real estate and savings. These conditions were especially favorable for the wealthiest of Americans who saw their already large incomes spike dramatically."

While employers did boost wages for some of the lowest-paid workers in the pandemic recovery, "their overall wealth share in the country actually decreased, as the rich became much richer," Murray says.

Here's the salary it takes to be considered in the top 5% of earners in each state, listed alphabetically, plus Washington, D.C.:

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$370,977

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$424,278

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$435,414

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$377,043

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$613,602

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$507,181

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$656,438

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$442,860

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$476,546

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$455,439

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$500,183

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$402,743

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$503,970

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$381,422

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$386,152

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$415,875

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$380,726

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$384,432

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$396,205

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$540,934

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$617,199

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$406,657

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$476,290

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$333,597

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$404,080

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$411,205

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$420,169

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$449,872

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$485,660

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$613,494

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$353,104

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$621,301

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$429,071

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$418,541

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$403,750

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$377,724

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$448,649

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$454,639

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$453,192

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$408,138

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$392,724

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$418,421

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$464,859

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$463,437

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$405,333

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$531,035

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$544,518

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$719,253

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$329,620

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$403,055

• 2022 average income of the top 5%:$407,646

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