Big Money
How much money Texans in top 1 percent earn compared to the little people
Texas' top earners are making big money according to a new study on income inequality. Released by the Economic Analysis and Research Network, it details the disparity in incomes between the top 1 percent and the rest of the population in each state.
So how much do the top 1 percent of Texas earners make? According to the report, you need to have an annual income of at least $423,099 to be considered. That's well above the national average of $385,195. The threshold for Texas' top earners ranks the eighth highest in the country.
Top earners in Texas made about 32 times more than the rest in the state, creating the seventh largest income disparity in the U.S.
Individuals in Texas' top 1 percent earned $1,499,944 on average in 2012, while the average income of the remaining 99 percent of Texans was only $46,102. That means the top earners made about 32 times more than the rest of the state, creating the seventh largest income disparity in the U.S.
The numbers are staggering, but this inequality isn't specific to Texas. The report points out that this gap in income has been a nationwide trend for years. From 1979 to 2007, there was a faster increase in the earnings of the top 1 percent than the rest of the population. In fact, the top 1 percent nabbed somewhere between half and all of the income growth across 39 states during that time period, Texas included.
From 2009 to 2012, the top 1 percent of Texas earners saw the third highest income growth in the country, an astonishing 50.2 percent. Wyoming and North Dakota came in first and second respectively, while California followed at No. 4. During that time, the remaining 99 percent of Texans only experienced a 1.7 percent increase in income.
The report states that Connecticut has the highest 1 percent threshold in the U.S., at $678,608. In Arkansas, the threshold is only $228,298. You can check out the full report here.