The 2009 Wage data from the Social Security Administration, reported earlier here, provide the basis for some other analyses. We can approximate certain percentiles of the distribution:

Top 1% of wage earners:

  • The top 0.79% of wage earners (not households) – those who earned $250,000 or more – received 10.69% of the wages.
  • The top 1.27% of wage earners – those who earned $200,000 or more – received 13.37% of the wages.

Top 2% of wage earners:

  • The top 1.92% of wage earners – those who earned $165,000 or more – received 16.40% of the wages
  • The top 2.06% of wage earners – those who earned $160,000 or more – received 16.98% of the wages.

Top 3% of wage earners:

  • The top 2.82% of wage earners – those who earned $135,000 or more – received 20.77% of the wages.
  • The top 3.07% of wage earners – those who earned $130,000 or more – received 21.75% of the wages

Top 4% of wage earners:

  • The top 3.69% of wage earners – those who earned $125,000 or more – received 22.82% of the wages
  • The top 4.07% of wage earners – those who earned $120,000 or more – received 24.02% of the wages

Top 5% of wage earners:

  • The top 5.00% of wage earners – those who earned $105,000 or more – received 28.35% of the wages

Top 10% of wage earners:

  • The top 9.03% of wage earners – those who earned $80,000 or more – received 39.30% of the wages
  • The top 10.29% of wage earners – those who earned $75,000 or more – received 42.27% of the wages

Top 20% of wage earners

  • The top 18.09% of wage earners – those who earned $55,000 or more – received 57.35% of the wages
  • The top 21.01% of wage earners – those who earned $50,000 or more – received 62.07% of the wages.

Top 25% of wage earners

  • The top 24.52% of wage earners – those who earned $45,000 or more – received 67.02% of the wages

Top 33% of wage earners

  • The top 33.33% of wage earners – those who earned $35,000 or more – received 77.42% of the wages

Top 40% of wage earners

  • The top 38.82% of wage earners – those who earned $30,000 or more – received 82.57% of the wages
  • The top 45.02% of wage earners – those who earned $25,000 or more – received 87.30% of the wages

Top 50% of wage earners

  • The top 51.74% of wage earners – those who earned $20,000 or more – received 91.47% of the wages

Bottom 25% of wage earners

  • The bottom 25.42% of wage earners – those who earned $10,000 or less – received 2.59% of the wages

Next 25% of wage earners

  • The next 26.32% of wage earnes – those who earned between $10,000 and $20,000 – received 5.94% of the wages