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Californians hoping to become the top 5% of earners in the state need to be making, on average, more than $600,000 a year, according to a new study from Go Banking Rates. Researchers for the financial website sought to find out how much money someone needs to make to land in the top 5% of earners. Unsurprisingly, those figures vary based on location. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau was used in the report. For Californians hoping to join the prestigious club, residents would have to bring in an average income of $613,602, a nearly 40% increase from 2017, when the average income needed for the top 5% of earners was $447,207. Residents in Washington, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Virginia, Colorado, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Connecticut and the District of Columbia would also need to make more than $500,000-plus annually to land in the top 5% of earners, the report found. The report found that top earners typically live in Washington D.C., where it takes $719,000 to be among the top 5% of earners. On the contrary, Mississippi had the lowest bar set for those hoping to be among the top 5% of earners. Residents in the state would have to earn, on average, $333,597. The full report can be viewed here.
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