Americans need more money than ever to break into the top 1%: report

It now takes a net worth of at least $5.8 million to break into the top 1% tier of America’s wealthiest — a whopping 15% more than it took to join the coveted echelon just one year ago, according to a recent report.

With surging stock markets continuing to pad the bank accounts of high-net worth individuals worldwide, the world’s 500 richest people added $1.5 trillion to their combined fortunes last year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with Tesla boss Elon Musk adding the most.

Despite the US having the world’s largest economy, global real estate consultancy Knight Frank’s 2024 Wealth Report found that the top 1% has an even higher net worth in three other countries overseas, including Switzerland and Luxembourg where, to be considered wealthy, residents must have fortunes of $8.5 million and $10.8 million, respectively.

Monaco retains the top spot for the highest threshold in the world, according to Knight Frank’s findings that were earlier reported on by Bloomberg.

To crack the top 1%, Monaco nationals need a handsome $12.8 million — an increase of 3.2% from this time in 2023, Knight Frank found.

Monaco’s gross domestic product per person of roughly $240,000 is more than 900 times greater than that of East Africa’s Burundi, Bloomberrg reported, citing World Bank data.

For reference, Americans’ GDP per capita was roughly $76,300 in 2022, according to the most recent World Bank data.

The sum is about 68% less than in the wealthy European city on the French Riviera, but it marks a more than 8% increase in America’s economic output per person from the year prior.

Knight Frank’s wealth report underscores that the power of a six-figure salary is fading in the US — especially in high-cost cities like Arlington, Va., as well as San Fransco and San Jose, Calif., where raking in more than $150,000 is considered “lower-middle class,” according to a recent analysis from GOBankingRates found.

California metros dominated the list with seven out of 25 of the top spots due to its housing implications.

Though the interest-rate-sensitive housing market entered a deep freeze last year in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate-hike campaign, prices have quickly recovered as buyers adjust to higher mortgage rates and compete for a limited supply of homes. 

Manhattan didn’t rank in the top 25, though neighboring Jersey City, NJ, took the 15th spot, as residents making as much as $101,279 are still considered lower-middle class, per GOBrankingRates.

The lower-middle class income range has edged higher as the cost of living has simultaneously increased — exasperated by elevated borrowing costs and stubbornly-high inflation.

Interest rates are at a 22-year high, between 5.25% and 5.5%, which has sent credit card delinquencies soaring above pre-pandemic levels.

Even high earners are fretting their financials.

In fact, more than half of Americans worry about money even when they have enough to afford their lifestyle, Wells Fargo’s Money Study found.

But Americans still struggle to talk about finances.

The report, published Tuesday, found that of the more than 3,400 US adults surveyed, 53% said that having an open and honest conversation about their money is more challenging than discussing their sex life.