A new Gallup analysis of the richest 1% of Americans---those living in households with income of $500,000 a year or more---demonstrates dramatically the dilemma facing the Millenial generation. Some 49% of the top 1% have earned postgraduate degrees, compared to just 16% of those in the bottom 99%. Moreover, 49% of those earning $250,000 to $499,999 and 42% or those earning $150,000 to $249,999 also hold graduate degrees. Only 27% of the richest 1% have less than a college degree, compared to 69% of the general population.
But the numbers also show that advanced degrees don’t guarantee high earnings, casting in sharp relief the dilemma facing young adults today, as they try to decide whether to take on an extra $50,000, $100,000 or $200,000 in student loan debt to earn a Masters, MBA, law or medical degree, on top of the $25,000 or so they may have taken for their undergraduate diploma. Some 13% of households with incomes of $40,000 to $49,000 and 17% of those in the $50,000 to $74,999 range also hold advanced degrees. Advanced degree holders are, however, underrepresented in households with income under $40,000. In all, Gallup calculates, 1.5% of families with postgraduate degrees have climbed into the top 1%, income-wise, compared to 0.8% of households with only undergraduates and 0.3% of households without any college diplomas
The difference in educational attainment, Gallup notes, swamps any difference in political orientation between the 1% and the 99%. The top 1% identify themselves as somewhat more Republican (33% vs. 28% for the 99%) and somewhat less Democratic (26% vs. 33% for the 99%). But when it comes to describing their ideology, they look a tad more moderate than the general population. Among the 1%, surveyed, 39% called themselves “conservative”; 41% called themselves “moderate”; and 20% called themselves “liberal.” The corresponding numbers for the 99%: 40% conservative; 37% “moderate; and 21% liberal.
The new Gallup analysis does not, however, reflect any political shifts that may have occurred as a result of the recent Occupy Wall Street movement and its rhetorical targeting of the top 1%. That’s because the analysis is based on a combination of 61 separate nationwide surveys Gallup conducted between January 2009 and November 2011. Those surveys produced, Gallup says, a sample of 65,000 households, including more than 400 adults from households earning more than $500,000.
The Gallup findings also demonstrate the clustering of the top 1% on the coasts---where living costs are higher and a $250,000 or even a $500,000 income may not make a household feel rich-even if the numbers say otherwise. Some 28% of the 1% live in the East and 30% cluster in the West. Among the 99%, 22% live in the East and 23% in the West. Midwesterners are the most underrepresented in the top 1%---they make up just 14% of the top 1% and 22% of the bottom 99%.
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