How Much Money Does it Take to be in Louisiana’s Wealthiest 1%?

Louisiana is well known for its gaps. We have gender gaps, pay gaps, gaping holes in our roadways caused by the heat, and some major gaps between what our legislators vote for and what common sense dictates. But this narrative is not about those gaps. Today we're looking at what it takes to be in the top 1% of Louisiana income earners.

According to the site, Zip Recruiter the average salary in Louisiana is $52,132.00. Naturally, that being a median number half of the salaries earned in the state are higher than that while the other half is lower.

According to a study done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the average annual salary for a single adult to live "comfortably" in Louisiana is just over $28,000 a year. For a family of five, that salary jumps to about $94,000. But those are averages, what about the people that don't make average money, the 1% if you will?

The website Smart Asset noted that there is a very large gap between those that make an average salary and those that are in the top 1% of earners in the state. In order to crack the ceiling and be in the top 1% in Louisiana you'd need to have an annual income of $489,500.00.

That figure breaks down to about $41,000 a month, just under $10,000 a week, and about $243 dollars an hour. Is that you? I didn't think so because it's not me either. But here's a fascinating discovery about how the income levels drop off when go from the top 1% of earners to Louisiana's top 5% of earners.

If you're in the top 5% of earners in Louisiana you make about $212,000 a year. Or, about 17,666.00 a month. The hourly income for those in the top 5% breaks down to about $105.00 per hour. Again, those numbers can be attributed to data from Smart Asset. 

So, where did you fit in the picture? Me? I am not sure if I even made it inside the frame much less the picture. Most of the people who earn the salaries we noted above work well beyond 40 hours per week which is what we based their hourly wage. I guess it's easy to have money when you don't have time to spend it, right?

Thankfully, folks such as you and I have a lot of time, too bad we don't have the money to go along with it. But boy if we did, we might look into purchasing this.