$66k/yr = rich person?
Nobody is going to build rich person wealth at 66
In the states, ignoring California insanity, it feels like if you can land a $200k+ job you’ll have something that feels sort of rich by the end but just barely. And that’a going to be around a top 5th percentile income for most areas.
The highest median income of all countries (Luxembourg) is about half that, give or take. The median income on Earth is somewhere around 5k, I think.
US is ~$41k for an individual and this includes 14/15 year olds.
You can count income in many ways and the data here is probably fresher than what I could find in a half-minute search. USA is just right after the Luxembourg and the number is still just 62% of the 66k mentioned above.
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-27...
I don’t think “both people have to work, to be average” counts as “rich”.
1. I can bet an average household in the US is > 2 people (google says 3.13). The threshold in question is for personal income.
2. The context of the whole discussion is global, so comparisons made from a perspective of a citizen of one of the richest countries in the world don't really fly.
1. https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/how-rich-am-i?income=66000&c...
So yes, by global standards, $66k/year would mean you are extremely rich. It's even quite a bit higher than the median adult income in developed countries. At $66k/year, you're making about double the average German working adult, and over triple the average Japanese working adult. [2]
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income
I think people often don't understand the grand scale of difference between the developing and the developed world. Yes, there is a cost of living adjustment, and certain things are cheaper abroad (though many things, such as electronics, are more expensive), but people really do consume a ton more in the rich world. Most people don't have cars, and most people live in far smaller homes. Even Europeans live in far smaller homes than Americans: the average new English home is 1/3 the size of the average American home. [3] People in developing countries also travel a lot less. Only 3% of Indians have traveled abroad, vs. 76% of Americans. [4]
The discretionary income, defined as "all the money you have left after paying for taxes and your absolute needs", that most Americans have (all but the lowest 3 deciles) would be extremely enviable by most people worldwide. [5, 6]
3. https://www.businessinsider.com/ons-english-homes-are-a-thir...
4. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2023/12/06/international-...
5. https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/10/18/the-averag...
6. https://infogram.com/discretionary_income_by_income_decile