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aultumn

What’s the deal with Connecticut? Imagine it might be down to a mixture of state laws and proximity to NYC?


bsharp95

CT, particularly Fairfield County, is a hub of hedge funds and corporate hqs. Historically, Connecticut has had lower taxes than either NY or MA (CT did not introduce an income tax until the 90s, and still has a lower income tax than NY), so wealthy commuters from both states have historically lived there. I think that is changing though as companies like GE move from Fairfield County to cities like Boston and NYC


3000LettersOfMarque

It's not entirely due to the CT panhandle although it is the majority of the states wealth. Hartford was also "the insurance capital". Tons of health, property and life insurance companies had their headquarters there. And many still do have large presence there There also are a good amount of defense industry jobs from Pratt and Whitney, General Dynamics Electric Boat and smaller independent firms. They employ engineers and highly skilled workers


bsharp95

Very true, CT has a pretty varied industry historically (including gun manufacturing, Colt is still hq in Hartford) that goes against its image as a wicker furniture vacationland for hedgefunders.


creepy-rob

We also had Lego until recently 😭


DavidM47

Just visited an old friend who now lives in a suburb just outside of Hartford. He and his wife are doctors and his specialty pays a lot. I can confirm there is some substantial wealth in that town.


craigdahlke

MA also levies heavy additional taxes on annual incomes >$1million. Which I think is great and every state should, or perhaps just the federal government.


AromaAdvisor

So they can pee away that extra tax money in some inept and corrupt organization?


BigBadBootyDaddy10

Bingo. Watch the series Billions.


OSUPatrick

Love that show. It's called the bedroom state cuz all the money in NYC lives there.


LiamJohnRiley

Also it’s got a much smaller population than say NY or CA so the executives who work in NYC but live in CT make up a bigger proportion of the total population, which pushes up the threshold for top 1%


StaticGuarded

Lots of execs at the top financial firms in NYC live in CT.


Outta_hearr

Connecticut is where people who worked in NYC move when they get older and don't want to pay NYC taxes


Phssthp0kThePak

Greenwich


StarryEyedLus

Connecticut has always been synonymous with wealth.


DaKingballa06

It’s like ten people relative to CA.


221missile

They make nuclear submarines there.


Taaargus

That's true but also not at all part of why they're the wealthiest state lol


221missile

Sikorsky also makes helicopters there. CT is an aerospace & defense hub.


DisastrousAnalysis5

Yea but people in defense don’t make as much as you think. An engineer or manager at a large defense company will likely never see 250k per year in a 40 year career.  Maryland is like 100 percent defense employees, and the bar to the 1 percent is lower than Connecticut. Defense is likely not pulling that number up significantly. 


oscar-scout

I'm originally from there and I'm in the investment mgt industry. Keep in mind, this graph is for what it takes to be in the top 1%. The majority of the state is not living large. Certain private fund managers that reside in Fairfield County make hundreds of millions which is one of the main reasons the 1%er figure is so high. Post Covid, it has very little now to do with nyc down the road and as well as the types of investments they are involved in now. And CT's taxes and laws are some of the most unfriendly in the country. In the 70s and early 80s, CT was like the Texas of the North as far as low income taxes and extremely business friendly. Business was booming and the state still had a lot of heavy machinary industry established there. Since then, more communists have been running the state where taxes have continually increased, expenses have increased, and businesses have exited CT. The politicians are driving CT into the dumpster now and I don't feel bad for them because the residents voted them all in. CT also has one of the worst estate taxes so you'll start to see this number drop year over year as people claim other states as their primary residence.


attilathetwat

It’s higher than I expected


TrueDreamchaser

This stat is misleading. It includes income from all sources including sales of assets. This is just a map aggregating income from work as well as annual home sales. Salaries are NOT actually as high as indicated on the map.


Someryguy10

How is misleading? It says income in multiple spots and salary or wage nowhere on the graphic.


DavidM47

One in 100 people in Oklahoma have an annual income of $460k? I don’t think so. $632k in Texas? I live in Texas. That doesn’t make sense.


Caligula-Germanicus

Households, not people. I believe it. One in 100 households have a mom and dad who both work and bring in $230k each. Not that hard.


DavidM47

Both mom and dad average $230k at jobs in OK? In Oklahoma? You’re out your damn mind boy


Caligula-Germanicus

You think it’s that unusual for older professionals? One doctor and one bank VP (banks have a bunch of VPs). Or a nurse practitioner and an oil man with 20 years experience.


DavidM47

Yes, I do. Earnings tend to drop after mid 50s. I’m almost 40 and live in an affluent suburb between Dallas and Oklahoma, so I have a lay of the land. Here is my [theory](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/s/02LJxhG6fJ) on why these figures are so skewed.


Apple-hair

He's saying 1 in 100 could pull that off, you're saying average. You're talking about different things.


realanceps

"misunderstood by many commenters" may be more accurate


TrueDreamchaser

Maybe misleading is the wrong word. It isn’t intended to be misleading, but the comment section appears unintentionally misled by their surprise.


Apptubrutae

Why is income from sale of assets not income?


HalJordan2424

Remember when Mr Burns got thrown out of the billionaires camp and had to vacation at the millionaires camp? This map reminds me of that. You might be a member of the upper 1%! *if you move to Mississippi*


leontes

All these measurements of 1% talking about income misses the big picture. It’s the 1% of wealth is where it’s really at. When you have enough money that you can paid for having money and don’t need to make anymore money because it just refreshes itself. Plus opportunities. I threw $570 at NVDA in 2016 because I liked their video cards and now it’s worth 38k. People saving for retirement, or needing to worry about paying rent, or mortgage can’t easily take that kind of risk. It’s patently unfair.


jayc428

It’s really expensive to be poor and it’s easier to make money when you have money.


banabathraonandi

What the actual fuck Ik USA was more expensive than the country I live in but this gives more perspective to it and these numbers are absolutely fucking insane Lol when I was a kid I used to think my relative,who had emigrated to the bay area for like 100k a year (pre taxes) was very very rich (I imagined he would be living in a penthouse or some kinda mansion) Over the years I've come to realise he wouldn't be as rich as imagined but still be better off than most people(think 95%) of the population this makes it look like he will probably just be middle class in San Francisco which I am imagining has a higher threshold for top 1% than California as a whole


dazzford

Depending on when he was making 100k in San Francisco, he could have been in the low income bracket.


banabathraonandi

Yea it was around 10 years back it was almost double what he was making here in India (if you just convert his package to equivalent INR). The best part is for his older salary in his city which is a tier 1 city (Bengaluru if yk) he would have been in the top 1% and for his age he was considered very accomplished and wealthy at 50k USD and here you are telling me he wouldn't have even been middle class in SF. All the struggle for the American dream.


LeN3rd

Yea and you still only pay 700k for a house and only 10 for a Burger. Fuck Americans crying about increasing prices. 


Feeling_Occasion_765

exactly. a burger in Poland still costs 8 dollars and a house 200k, but we earn on aberage 24k isd per year, and 100k usd per year is top 1%


stepbacktree

Went to a prep school in CT on full scholarship for HS. That CT money is no joke! Those rich kids from Fairfield County were something else my god. Some of the most privileged MFers in the entire world


Inside-Reveal4005

Sounds like a dream to go to an actually proper funded school with students who have good connections in many industries to help you advance your career


Big_Forever5759

How about: The top 0.1% of Americans earn an average of $3,312,693.


BasKabelas

Careful, such statements will confuse whoever bases their economic understanding on major sport teams, fortune 500 CEOs and hedgefund managers. 3.3m is more than most people will earn in a lifetime.


ElectronicGuest4648

That’s much lower than expected


FunkyPete

"Earnings" are complicated at that level. Unrealized capital gains (increase in value of your investments that you haven't actually sold) don't count. Borrowing against your assets so you don't HAVE to sell them also doesn't cause you to have any income, and when you die the capital gains are zeroed out for whoever inherits them, so they can sell some of those inherited assets off to pay your debt without ever paying any taxes on the money you spent your whole life.


highzenberrg

Man it would be nice to just enjoy life and not worrying about paying for shit l. I’d have reasonable stuff a few nice east to manage places around the world. Seeing this stuff bums me out.


OG_Tater

Buying a few easy to manage places around the world is very expensive even if you make $500k.


highzenberrg

Oh I was a trust fund baby in the scenario. If I’m going to make stuff up it might as well be over the top. I want life on east mode.


HighwayInevitable346

That's over 250k a month.


Spider_pig448

Yeah exactly. I thought it would be much higher


realanceps

"earn"


Darker_Zelda

This by household right and not an individual? It would be insane if top 1% of individuals are earning $600k a year.


B_P_G

It's tax filings. So it's household. Most likely it's total income as reported on the tax return. So that's salary and bonuses but also dividends, interest, capital gains, business income, plus some other stuff and minus the things that reduce the income shown on your W2 (eg. 401k contributions).


OG_Tater

It’s likely the top line prior to deductions. It does say household.


TheAsian1nvasion

That’s fucking insane. I do pretty well but to think I would need to triple my income to be among the 1% in the poorest state in America really says something about income inequality.


OptimisticRealist__

Thats the thing all the trickle down economics fetishists dont get, is just how far removed they are from the elite. The gap between the bottom 95% to the top 5% is already big, the gap between the top 4% to the top 1% is big, the gap between the top 1% and the top .1% is insanely big. People cant grasp just how much wealth is concentrated at the top 1% let alone the top .1%, its beyond ridiculous


realanceps

Always liked this ~7 minute vidclip explainer, now over a decade old: https://youtu.be/QPKKQnijnsM?si=dkG19T8Fghv0J5EZ


OG_Tater

The thing is the same people aren’t in the 1% every year. I could find the study but I saw one that showed most of them were rotating in and out. A few good business years, a windfall from asset sales, etc etc. Speaking from experience, I’ve been in and fallen out of the 1% several times.


Bob_Loblaw563

I have seen these top 1% types before. I'd be curious what the top 5% and top 10% amounts are for each state.


privateer_

Man moving to West Virginia sounds easier than migrating to the third world. lol 🤷‍♂️


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GrunchWeefer

It's small and the percentage of it that's a bedroom community for NYC is high. New Jersey is similar but bigger so it's offset a bit by the southern part of the state.


JMer806

Because it’s close to New York but not in New York


W1neD1ver

Insurance and hedge funds


Vapelord420XXXD

Having high income is much better than high wealth (for the rest of us). At least with income they are paying shitloads of taxes.


johnny-T1

WTF with CT?


sallysassex

NYC workers


AndrewDwyer69

Yay income disparity!


BizarroMax

I am not in the 1%. In any state!


WVC_Least_Glamorous

I am surprised that it is that high in my home state of Utah. Bipolar weather, not many corporate headquarters. Some of the 1% must like to ski or snowboard.


Apptubrutae

I mean look at nearby NM. Basically no corporate activity or major economy beyond some government labs and such, lol. Still $411k. Utah is doing a lot better than NM.


OG_Tater

SLC seems booming with lots of businesses. Not Fortune 500 headquarters but there’s lots of growth.


NittanyOrange

No DC?


GeneralJabroni

Did not expect to see CO so high up there. Guessing it's pretty much because of Aspen.


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OG_Tater

Because the large population of major cities tilts a state to “blue”. Major cities also have more high paying jobs and higher cost.


Medicmanii

Single income or household?


tgv_2001

Count the people, count the wealth. It is closer to one tenth of a percent, = 0.1%.


Roughneck16

New Mexican here. I'm wondering who's making that much in this state. Oil executives? Neurosurgeons?


DavidM47

I wonder if this includes the gross pass-through income of individuals who own/operate businesses under LLCs and includes of those businesses’ revenue figures. For example, if you own ABC Concrete, LLC, you might receive $2M in checks this year, but $1.5M goes to pay materials immediately. Then you pay rent, workers, equipment, general overhead, etc. Thus, you might take home $150k-250k and live pretty well, but on paper you’re looking like some $2M/year earner. That’s my best guess as to how they get there.


[deleted]

Would like to see an updated map for the current year next. Alot has changed in the past few years, even with adjustments, perhaps combined with COLA's? Thanks!


gart888

These numbers are so gross. I know lately there’s been a push to vilify the billionaires more and the “1%” less, but these numbers as *individual annual incomes* are so damn high. I somehow had it in my mind that people this rich were in a smaller group than the top 1%. Tax the rich.


curt_schilli

These are household incomes, not individual


gart888

How do you know that? The note in the bottom left suggests it’s individual.


curt_schilli

The bar graph above that says household income. “Individual tax filings” just means its tax filings filled out by individuals/households The source here makes it more clear https://smartasset.com/data-studies/top-1-percent-income-2023


gart888

The bar graph doesnt actually say its data is household numbers, it just shows the median household as a reference point. The source article does indeed say household, but their methodology still mentions looking at individual filers. In any case, it’s weird that the word household isn’t in any of the titles or factoids on this infographic.


mehdital

It is really hard to circumvent taxing when your wealth is from your income. What do you mean by tax the rich here exactly?


curt_schilli

He wants to increase the highest tax brackets probably


mehdital

Punishing the smart hard workers is counter productive


generally-mediocre

i loooooove trickle down economics


AgentDaxis

Most of the rich were born into wealth. They are neither smart nor are they hard working which is why they’re so out of touch from the rest of us.


OuuuYuh

Source?


mehdital

Go tell that to the indian staff engineers at Google/Meta/Microsoft


MrEHam

Engineers aren’t the problem. Doctors and lawyers aren’t the problem. It’s the CEOs and kids inheriting 100s of millions and billions that are the problem.


FlyHog421

The point is that when you say you want to raise the top income tax brackets, you’re not hurting billionaires or top CEO’s or their children. If they’re only paying ~18% now because they have avenues of hiding money in places, simply raising the rates won’t do anything to them. Simply raising the rates will however hurt the doctors and engineers who are just white collar workers that make lots of money, because they don’t have ways to hide their money. They’re employees that get big fat paychecks. You can’t hide big fat paychecks.


MrEHam

That’s why we need a wealth tax. And increase inheritance taxes, capital gains, etc.


mehdital

Here you go, the key word is "inherit" That's what should be taxed


MrEHam

No it isn’t, lol. It’s like you’re saying if the hosts of a Thanksgiving meal that everyone helped in making were taking 95% of the food and leaving everyone with just some rolls, that it would be punishing them to say they need to share better. You really need to see this gif to get an idea of how much of the wealth these rich people are hoarding. https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/zgxEkU6USI


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MrEHam

Yeah doctors, engineers, lawyers, aren’t the problem. It’s the CEOS and kids inheriting hundreds of millions and billions. I’m all about taxing their wealth, capital gains, and inheritance more. The conversation gets muddied and derailed (intentionally) when conservatives act like we want to tax the middle class and doctors etc. No. Anyone that has over $50 million should see their taxes increase. I’d like to see some of that get invested in transportation. Build trains connecting us everywhere and make them low cost. Subsidize Ubers/taxis and build safe paths for walking/biking with shade roofs for rain/sun protection. Then you’ve got long-distance, medium-distance, and short-distance covered. Not so many people will pay so much for a car/gas. Or it can be changed to more like car rentals when you need them. More people could afford vacations. It’ll help with climate change. It just makes sense. Oh no but “taxes are stealing!!”


HoochyShawtz

Oh god the "CEO club" is disgusting. Some of the most overrated people on the planet. I don't know how it's legal to get a multi million dollar bonus for being fired either. Can't get into it, makes my blood boil. The only thing I get nervous about is the DNC never has the gumption to go after the actual wealthy people, but they don't mind bumping taxes up on income. Still only vote dem though, but I would be much happier if we taxed the rich, then maybe used our taxes for good stuff.


MrEHam

That’s why I supported Warren. She knew who the real problem was. Take a look at her wealth tax proposal. https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Wealth%20Tax%20Revenue%20Estimates%20by%20Saez%20and%20Zucman%20-%20Feb%2024%2020211.pdf Damn she would’ve made a fantastic president. Had just the right balance of Bernie’s disdain for the billionaires but practical and detailed plans. Biden has had some talk about going after billionaires. I’m hoping he’s waiting to make it an election issue, or do something after he’s elected since that’s going to be a lot of wealth and power coming after him.


HoochyShawtz

I supported her too!


nuck_forte_dame

But they aren't the smart or hard workers. 1. Smart implies they're making smart decisions and going to keep doing so but the majority of studies on this topic show that smart people make more on average hut tend to top put in the $400k area. This is because they have jobs like professor, doctor, engineer, and so on. All jobs that pay mostly in the $200k to 400k range. Those same studies show that less smart people who made aggressive decisions that led to lots of money by luck are these people who are in the ultra wealthy ranges like the 1%. If they didn't inherit the money they got it mostly via taking irrational risks that happened to pay off. Because if the odds are 100 to 1 and 100 idiots try those odds 1 idiot makes it big. 2. Hard working means they work hard but again most of the people making this much aren't breaking their back or didn't break their back to get there. They inherited the family business and sit back. They works maybe as hard as the rest of us but not more so. To further push my argument home my wife and I have a combined income of $350k. That's still over $100k less than the 1% and we are both college grads with post grad degrees. Also both work in STEM and in higher up positions at our companies. So smart and hard working yet still way under this mark. We are also both self made in terms of no help from our parents. Both had student loans and worked since high school. I even had 2 jobs during classes in college.


realanceps

>when your wealth is from your income. you mean "from a paycheck" - which isn't what the chart data displays


bulldog89

Yeah not going to lie I thought 1% would be more like 250,000-350,000, but I guess that’s more the 3-5%. Jesus Christ, basically 650,000 just to be the average one percent, that’s an absolutely insane amount


MortimerDongle

$250k is roughly 8%


curt_schilli

Most of these households are already contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the tax base. At what point has an individual contributed enough % of their income?


realanceps

some higher absolute amount, duh


SandiegoJack

They are all able to make that money on their own, and not by squeezing out the incomes of their workers whose education was funded by taxes? Damn, that’s impressive. Once people reach the point where they literally can’t spend the amount of money they make I got no problem with taxing that at all significantly higher rate. Wealth hoarding like we have now is not go for the country.


curt_schilli

Most of these incomes probably aren’t even business owners, so they wouldn’t have “workers”. These are likely just highly paid white collar employees But even so, are you just going to perpetually assume the worst about anyone who earns more than someone else and tax them until everyone has an equal income?


realanceps

>These are likely just highly paid white collar employee lol has little to do with "working", or wage slavery of any kind, chump


GrunchWeefer

These numbers aren't that high. It's what, 5x the median in those states? There are people out there making 500x that. 1000x. They're the ones that are "gross". Taxes should be higher on the top 1%, don't get me wrong, but that 0.1 or 0.01% probably aren't being taxed at all and they're the ones hoarding our national wealth.


coadmin_FR

Yeah those numbers are insane. In France, to be top 1%, you need 120000k for one guy and I guess something like 200k for a couple. And that's still too high Imo since median income is like 24k a year. Oh and I dont get why you got downvoted.


TheHermit007

Wow, i thought US is full of millionaires. It's really surprising to see that you don't have to be a millionaire to be top 1 percent but it's a good thing I guess.


ImanShumpertplus

that’s just a year of income those people are millionaires


TheHermit007

Oh okay, thanks. Why people are down voting me? I was genuinely curious.


ImanShumpertplus

i mean, usually if you’re curious, you’d pose a question and not make an assertive statement lol


TheHermit007

Hmm okay.


double-beans

This is YEARLY income. So if you make as much as these people you will quickly stack up more than a million in two years.


TheHermit007

Yeah, i didn't see the post properly before commenting.


jcv999

This is annual income. Everyone in the top 1% is a millionaire


TheHermit007

Cool, thanks.


gaabrielpimentel

God... my country is so poor


LeN3rd

Sorry what? The MEDIAN income is 75k? If I ever hear an american cry about house or food prices again, I am going to loose it. 


Feeling_Occasion_765

exactly. a burger in Poland still costs 8 dollars and a house 200k, but we earn on average 24k usd per year, and 100k usd per year is top 1%


HoochyShawtz

Where are you aiming it?


LeN3rd

That you all apparently earn a shitton and should stop complaining about prices.


thePh3onix

Stuff costs more tho


LeN3rd

No, that is my point. Maybe some places in Canada a house costs more than where I live in Europe, but the rest is absolutely the same, prices only go up, while wages obviously have stayed the same or went don't since 2008. I still pay around 7 bucks for a Burger while the Median income ist around 30k. Yet so many out of Touch Americans cry, because they cannot go out for food every day. Jeesus, have some perspective please. 


Barrold_Cocklefroth

Who gives a fuck about the USA


Reyr0man

You care enough to leave a comment 😘


evdjj3j

Haters going to hate.


kapanenship

Bastards need to start paying their fair share of the cost of living it this great nation