- More than half of all adult Americans will be at or near the poverty line at some point over the course of their lives;
- 73% will also find themselves in the top 20%, and 39% will make it into the top 5% for at least one year.
- Perhaps most remarkable, 12% of Americans will be in the top 1 percent for at least one year of their working lives.
The "top 1 percent", is such an unstable group that it makes no sense to lump them in a single group, or consider their actions over long (10- or 20- year) periods, because it does not contain the same group of people from year to year.
Citing tax scholar Robert Carroll’s examination of IRS records, Professor Rank notes that the turnover among the super-rich (the top 400 taxpayers in any given year) is 98% over a decade — that is, just 2% of that elusive group remain there for ten years in a row. Among those earning more than $1 million a year, most earned that much for only one year of the nine-year period studied, and only 6% earned that much for the entire period.
The IRS showed similar findings with respect to the top 400 taxpayers between 1992 and 2009. While 73% of people who made the list did so once during this period, only 2% of them were on the list for 10 or more years. These analyses further demonstrate the sizable amount of turnover and movement within the top levels of the income distribution.
Ultimately, this information blasts the notion of a rigid class structure in the United States based upon income. Rather, it suggests that the United States is indeed a land of opportunity, that the American dream is still possible. Poverty exists, for sure, yet rather than being a place of static, income-based social tiers, America is a place where a large majority of people will experience some form of wealth or poverty — but realistically both — during their lifetimes.
