3 ms·

You have to be worth something like $8 million to be in the top 1% in the U.S. by net worth. I don't think that includes most dentists.

by alayne 11y ago

jedberg 11y ago
This report is about top 1% of income, not wealth. To be in the top 1% nationally, you had to have earned $383,000 in 2015. In some cities that number is as low as $175K, very doable for a doctor or dentist.
- alayne 11y ago
  Yep and I don't think that is a good measurement.
- bsimpson 11y ago
  Of course, some of that is cost of living, but a lot of it is the lack of diversity in the ratings. I'm sure Elko, Nevada has some doctors, but probably not many investment bankers. With less representation from other well-remunerated occupations, a doctor in Elko is likely to be in the top 1%; however, a similar doctor in Manhattan probably isn't.
- sokoloff 11y ago
  That $383K is very likely a household income (or tax return AGI, which is a close proxy for household) figure, not an individual income figure.
  - jedberg 11y ago
    Yes, it's household income, not individual.
rashkov 11y ago
I think your numbers might be off because the most I've seen for the 1% cutoff is 500-600k
- alayne 11y ago
  I got the 8 million from here http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/measuring-the-top-1-by-wealth-not-income/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/measuring-the-t... Feel free to cite a better source.
  - nkurz 11y ago
    Interesting, like 'rashkov' that's much higher than I would have guessed. It does look authoritative, although part of the disparity may be that the "administrative" estimates of wealth are much less than other presumably more accurate measures. This paper gives a more up to date chart on P. 62 in Table C.3: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/feds/2015/files/2015030pap.pdf http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/feds/2015/files/20... Table C.3. Net Worth Fractile Thresholds (Thousands $) SCF Bulletin Wealth, HHDs 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 90th Percentile 364 357 381 494 740 834 910 953 942 99th Percentile 2,251 2,318 2,460 3,793 5,787 6,356 8,360 6,815 8,155 99.9th Percentile 9,703 9,207 13,898 15,346 20,338 25,109 30,826 27,488 30,894 I chose the top line for each percentile, which gives the highest figures, but it's possible that one of the "adjusted" numbers is more appropriate. It's interesting to me that over the time period from 1989 to 2013, the 90th, 99th, and 99.9th percentiles have all basically tripled. The summary, in case the chart is hard to read, is that for 2013, the 90th percentile threshold for household wealth is about 1 million dollars, the 99th is about 8 million, and the 99.9th is about 30 million. The adjusted estimates (see the paper) are generally 10-30% lower.
jsonne 11y ago
A quick Google suggest that Dentist make 120k+ per year. Over a lifetime of a career that works out to roughly 5 million dollars of earning potential (Assuming you retire at 65 and never receive a raise.) Assuming you have a spouse that works as well you could pretty handily be in the top 1% as a dentist.
- rgbrenner 11y ago
  doesn't the dentist need to eat and a place to live? taxes? No one gets to save 100% of their income from their entire life.
- briandear 11y ago
  You're assuming dentists don't invest. In the independent film business one of the secrets to finding funding was to find a bunch of dentists.
duaneb 11y ago
I always understood it to be top 1% of income. Asset wealth may make more sense.
ChinoAntrax 11y ago
Dentists can most definitely make far more than that in a career. I have 2 brothers that are dentists. One of them had a practice in Hattiesburg, MS (about 47,000 people) and in the city of Bay Springs, MS (about 2,000 people) and he was making anywhere from $600,000/year on the low end, to $1m on the best years. Before he got divorced and moved to Florida, anyways, and the glut of dentists there has him making around $250,000/year max so far (lived there about 4-5 years now.) He's planning to retire when he is 50 and he's 44 now. He got his pilots license in the last few years and now flies between his practices in Florida and owns his own plane (just a small little Beechcraft Bonanza.) But either way, he's made great money in his lifetime through dentistry. Unfortunately my other brother that is a dentist I don't talk to that much so I have no idea of his earnings, but I know he also does very well.
- alayne 11y ago
  Most dentists aren't making $600k per year. I just think OP was being a little bit generous with who is in the 1%, particularly if you look at net worth which is a better metric.

You have to be worth something like $8 million to be in the top 1% in the U.S. by net worth. I don't think that includes most dentists.

by alayne 11y ago

You have to be worth something like $8 million to be in the top 1% in the U.S. by net worth. I don't think that includes most dentists.

jedberg 11y ago

This report is about top 1% of income, not wealth. To be in the top 1% nationally, you had to have earned $383,000 in 2015. In some cities that number is as low as $175K, very doable for a doctor or dentist.

alayne 11y ago
Yep and I don't think that is a good measurement.
bsimpson 11y ago
Of course, some of that is cost of living, but a lot of it is the lack of diversity in the ratings. I'm sure Elko, Nevada has some doctors, but probably not many investment bankers. With less representation from other well-remunerated occupations, a doctor in Elko is likely to be in the top 1%; however, a similar doctor in Manhattan probably isn't.
sokoloff 11y ago
That $383K is very likely a household income (or tax return AGI, which is a close proxy for household) figure, not an individual income figure.
- jedberg 11y ago
  Yes, it's household income, not individual.

rashkov 11y ago

I think your numbers might be off because the most I've seen for the 1% cutoff is 500-600k

alayne 11y ago
I got the 8 million from here http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/measuring-the-top-1-by-wealth-not-income/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/measuring-the-t... Feel free to cite a better source.
- nkurz 11y ago
  Interesting, like 'rashkov' that's much higher than I would have guessed. It does look authoritative, although part of the disparity may be that the "administrative" estimates of wealth are much less than other presumably more accurate measures. This paper gives a more up to date chart on P. 62 in Table C.3: http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/feds/2015/files/2015030pap.pdf http://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/feds/2015/files/20... Table C.3. Net Worth Fractile Thresholds (Thousands $) SCF Bulletin Wealth, HHDs 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 90th Percentile 364 357 381 494 740 834 910 953 942 99th Percentile 2,251 2,318 2,460 3,793 5,787 6,356 8,360 6,815 8,155 99.9th Percentile 9,703 9,207 13,898 15,346 20,338 25,109 30,826 27,488 30,894 I chose the top line for each percentile, which gives the highest figures, but it's possible that one of the "adjusted" numbers is more appropriate. It's interesting to me that over the time period from 1989 to 2013, the 90th, 99th, and 99.9th percentiles have all basically tripled. The summary, in case the chart is hard to read, is that for 2013, the 90th percentile threshold for household wealth is about 1 million dollars, the 99th is about 8 million, and the 99.9th is about 30 million. The adjusted estimates (see the paper) are generally 10-30% lower.

jsonne 11y ago

A quick Google suggest that Dentist make 120k+ per year. Over a lifetime of a career that works out to roughly 5 million dollars of earning potential (Assuming you retire at 65 and never receive a raise.) Assuming you have a spouse that works as well you could pretty handily be in the top 1% as a dentist.

rgbrenner 11y ago
doesn't the dentist need to eat and a place to live? taxes? No one gets to save 100% of their income from their entire life.
briandear 11y ago
You're assuming dentists don't invest. In the independent film business one of the secrets to finding funding was to find a bunch of dentists.

duaneb 11y ago

I always understood it to be top 1% of income. Asset wealth may make more sense.

ChinoAntrax 11y ago

Dentists can most definitely make far more than that in a career. I have 2 brothers that are dentists. One of them had a practice in Hattiesburg, MS (about 47,000 people) and in the city of Bay Springs, MS (about 2,000 people) and he was making anywhere from $600,000/year on the low end, to $1m on the best years. Before he got divorced and moved to Florida, anyways, and the glut of dentists there has him making around $250,000/year max so far (lived there about 4-5 years now.) He's planning to retire when he is 50 and he's 44 now. He got his pilots license in the last few years and now flies between his practices in Florida and owns his own plane (just a small little Beechcraft Bonanza.) But either way, he's made great money in his lifetime through dentistry. Unfortunately my other brother that is a dentist I don't talk to that much so I have no idea of his earnings, but I know he also does very well.

alayne 11y ago
Most dentists aren't making $600k per year. I just think OP was being a little bit generous with who is in the 1%, particularly if you look at net worth which is a better metric.