What the Top 20% Really Make and How You Can Get There (2024)

While being a top 20% producer and income earner is obviously a nice place to be, the next question I get is, “How do I get there?” The answer to that question might surprise you.

The Top 20% Income Earners

You know how big I am on the 80/20 rule in sales. I see it in every company and industry I work in, and, as many of you know, I’ve dedicated myself to helping sales reps and companies elevate their skills and techniques, so they can start producing sales and income like the top 20% of sales reps do.

Often I get asked just what the top 20% make in actual income, and today I can tell you…

The Associated Press, quoting figures released from the recent Census Bureau report, published an article last week revealing what the top-earning 20% of Americans make in income.

They found that the top 20% of all Americans earn over $130,000 in income. Thats over 5 times more than the bottom 20%.

While that’s interesting in and of itself, what even more important is that the top 20% are also receiving over 50% of all the income earned in the country.

Now that’s BIG. Obviously, what this means is that the other 80% of income earners are splitting up the remaining 50%. That’s a big disparity and it tells us that the top 20% not only make most of the money in the country, but that they have a much bigger piece of the pie to split up.

While being a top 20% producer and income earner is obviously a nice place to be, the next question I get is, “How do I get there?”

The answer to that question might surprise you. Most sales reps I ask about this usually point to all the wrong things. They point to outside things like:

If the leads were better, or the economy was better, or had a better product, or price, or company or training….

How Do YOU Get There?

Here’s the real truth – the only thing that is holding you back, or will ever hold you back, is your own belief in what you think you deserve.

In other words, your consciousness or comfort zone. The real cause of your income, your health, your outside anything, is the image or picture you hold of them in your consciousness.

The universal truth is that: What you hold in your mind’s eye is always manifested out. One of my favorite authors, Dr. Robert Anthony puts it perfectly in his book, The Advanced Formula for Total Success:

Your ability to accept (financial success) is determined by your consciousness. We all know people who have more money than they know what to do with, and we all know many people who never have enough.

Why the difference?

If a person who has virtually nothing is given a large sum of money, within a very short time that person will have nothing again. If we divided all the money in the world equally, in a short time the rich would be rich again, and the poor would be poor.

Many people think that if they could just get their hands on a large sum of money, they would be set for the rest of their lives.

This is absolutely not true. Surveys have shown that people who receive large sums of money without working for them — those who won lotteries, or inherited wealth, for example — almost always find themselves back to their original financial level within two years of their windfall.

They think that if they had money, they would pay their bills, climb out of debt and start anew. But that very seldom happens.

Over ninety percent of the people who win large sums of money eventually end up with no more money than they had before their winnings.

Their standard of life does not increase and it is in many cases lowered because of their excess spending.

It’s All In Your Comfort Zone

The point here is that if you have a poverty consciousness or a consciousness of lack and limitation, you will literally spend yourself into poverty.

If you find yourself with too much money, you will spend whenever you have in order to get back to your comfort zone.

Take all the money away from a person, who is a millionaire — one who has the consciousness of the millionaire today — and within a short time he or she will be a millionaire again.

Riches start from the mind, not your pocketbook, bank account or investment. The bank account and investments are the effects, not the cause. The cause is always an idea or belief.

A person is not rich because they have money. They have money because they are rich in consciousness. They believe that they are rich. Again, this is the reason that the rich will always get richer and the poor will always stay poor until they change their consciousness.

Shift Your Consciousness First

So if you would like to become one of the top 20% earners in America, then you don’t need to change jobs, careers, or anything else “outside” of you.

You just have to change the image you have of yourself and become rich in your consciousness first. That is the real secret to your success.

Ready to join the Top 20% but don’t know exactly how to get there? Download our FREE GUIDE on How to Find the Right Coach

What the Top 20% Really Make and How You Can Get There (2024)

FAQs

How much do you need to make to be in the top 20%? ›

2022 AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGES
Top 5%$170,000 to $174,999
Top 10%$120,000 to $124,999
Top 15%$95,000 to $99,999
Top 20%$80,000 to $84,999
4 more rows
Dec 11, 2023

How much does the richest 20% earn? ›

They found that the top 20% of all Americans earn over $130,000 in income.

What income level is the top 25 percent? ›

Based on a previous 1000+ survey study on Financial Samurai, about 80% of readers are in the Top 25% income earners ($95,000+). Good to know that many of you are doing well.

How much money do you get for top 1%? ›

What are the annual wages of top earners?
BracketAverage annual wages
Top 0.1%$3,212,486
Top 1%$823,763
Top 5%$342,987
Top 10%$173,176
Apr 30, 2024

What salary is top 20% of earners? ›

The top 20% of Americans earn over $130,545 in annual income. Another important fact is that the top 20% are also making over 50% of all the income earned in the country.

What is the top 30 percent income in the US? ›

In absolute terms, affluence is a relatively widespread phenomenon in the United States, with over 30% of households having an income exceeding $100,000 per year and over 30% of households having a net worth exceeding $250,000, as of 2019.

What is the top 10% income in the US? ›

How to Make the Top 1% List
2021 Average Annual Wages
GroupAvg. Wages
Top 1% of Earners$819,324
Top 5% of Earners$335,891
Top 10% of Earners$167,639
1 more row

What income is considered upper class? ›

Upper middle class: Anyone with earnings in the 60th to 80th percentile would be considered upper middle class. Those in the upper middle class have incomes between $89,745 and $149,131. Upper class: Finally, the upper class is the top 20% of earners and they have incomes of $149,132 or higher.

Who are the top 10% income? ›

In the UK, the threshold for the top 10% of personal income before tax is £59,200, according to the HMRC's latest statistics. This is over twice the median wage, which is generally under £30,000. But the top 10% incorporates a wide range of incomes.

What salary is considered wealthy? ›

Here's the income it takes to be a top earner in your state

You'll need to earn more than half a million annually to be considered among the highest earning residents in 11 states and Washington, D.C. "This comes down to cost of living," Murray said.

How many Americans make over 100k? ›

Only 18% of individual Americans make more than $100,000 a year, according to 2023 data from careers website Zippia. About 34% of U.S. households earn more than $100,000 a year, according to Zippia.

What percentile is 100k income? ›

Specifically, $100,000 is about 80th percentile income in the US.

What net worth puts you in the top 1? ›

The top 1% of household net worth in the U.S. was just shy of $13.7 million in 2023. An individual would have to earn an average of $407,500 per year to join the top 1%. A household would need an income of $591,550. The median household income was $74,580 in 2023 and $45,440 for individuals.

What is considered a high earner? ›

High Earners, Not Rich Yet (HENRYs) is a term to describe people who earn high incomes, usually between $250,000 to $500,000, but have not saved or invested enough to be considered rich. Most of HENRYs' incomes are consumed by consumer spending, educational costs, and housing.

What net worth makes you rich? ›

Someone who has $1 million in liquid assets, for instance, is usually considered to be a high net worth (HNW) individual. You might need $5 million to $10 million to qualify as having a very high net worth while it may take $30 million or more to be considered ultra-high net worth.

How much do you have to make to be in the top 25? ›

What do the numbers look like for making the top 25%? Make just over $78,000 a year and you'll crack that list in the state with the lowest bar. In the state with the highest bar, you'll need to make about $131,000.

How many 20 year olds make $100,000? ›

From age 18-24, only 1% of earners (7% altogether) earn $100k per year or more. This makes these age groups by far the lowest earners in the US. Americans make the most income gains between 25 and 35. Only 2% of 25-year-olds make over $100k per year, but this jumps to a considerable 12% by 35.

What is a good salary at 20? ›

Average Salary for Ages 20-24

The median salary of 20- to 24-year-olds is $720 per week, which translates to $38,012 per year. Many Americans start out their careers in their 20s and don't earn as much as they will once they reach their 30s.

How many individuals make $200,000 a year? ›

About 10.1 million people make over 200k.

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