WASHINGTON — Fully 20 percent of US adults become rich for parts of their lives, wielding extensive influence over America’s economy and politics, according to new survey data.
The “new rich” extend well beyond the wealthiest 1 percent, a traditional group of super-rich millionaires and billionaires with long-held family assets.
The new rich have household income of $250,000 or more some time during their working lives, putting them — if sometimes temporarily — in the top 2 percent of earners.
Even outside periods of unusual wealth, group members generally hover in the $100,000-plus income range, keeping them in the top 20 percent of earners.
Many analysts consider the group a sign of the nation’s growing economic polarization. But group members generally don’t.
“For many in this group, the American dream is not dead. They have reached affluence for parts of their lives and see it as very attainable, even if the dream has become more elusive for everyone else,” says Mark Rank, who calculated numbers on the affluent for a forthcoming book, “Chasing the American Dream,” to be published by the Oxford University Press.
The new survey data was also analyzed by The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.