How Rich Is Rich?

How much would you have to earn in a year in the U.S. before someone considered you rich? According to a recent YouGov poll, that depends heavily on you ask. The research found that the American public considers an annual income between $90,000 and $100,000 necessary to be deemed rich. The fieldwork for the survey was carried out in September 2018 and it found that 76 percent of respondents think an annual income of $10,000 constitutes being poor. That label gets shaken off once yearly earnings hit $30,000 with half of the population saying someone in this income category is neither rich nor poor.

While there is a sense of division as to whether a $90,000 paycheck makes someone rich of poor, a majority of 56 percent of respondents agree that a person earning $100,000 a year is rich. The survey also asked people how rich of poor they consider themselves with 64 percent saying they are neither. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the 2019 poverty line for a family of four in the U.S. is an income of $25,470 a year. 12.3 percent of the population, 39.7 million people, were classed as living in poverty in 2017.