Being in the top one percent income level is a big stretch goal for many financial go-getters. After all, only one percent of the working population can earn a top one percent income level. This post will go through the top one percent income levels by age group.
In 2025, a top one percent income threshold is at least $700,000, this is up from $650,000 in 2024, $470,000 in 2019, and $380,000 in 2015! Talk about inflation and economic growth pushing the top one percent income higher and higher. And of course, if you live in a more expensive state, it takes a higher level of income to be in the top one percent.
If you make a top one percent income, Democrats want to raise your taxes. That's just the way it goes if you make more than ninety nine percent of the population. That said, Trump beat Harris, meaning that taxes should remain the same or might even go lower in 2026 and beyond. If you don't own real assets or stocks, inflation is really going to be a drag on your relative wealth.
Now that we know how much money you need to make each year to get to the top, it's time to dig deeper. Let's take a look at the top one percent income level by age group. After all, nobody goes straight to the top right out of high school or college!
Instead, it's much better to measure your income level by the average income level of your peers. It is much harder to get to a top one percent income of $650,000+ at age 30 than it is at age 50.
Top One Percent Income Levels By Age Group
Hopefully everybody agrees that everything is relative in finance. If everybody makes a million dollars a year, making a million dollars a year won't be anything special anymore. $3 million is the new $1 million due to inflation.
Let me share a chart of the top one percent and top 0.1 percent income levels by age to highlight my point. Please do not confuse a top one percent income with a top 0.1 percent income like the media often likes to do. A top 0.1 percent income is over a million dollars a year.
For background, I've held a top one percent income for my age between 1999 – 2012 when I worked for Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. Then I retired at the age of 34 in 2012 with a $3 million net worth, but lost about 80% of my overall income to be free.
But over time, I've rebuilt my passive investment income to generate about $300,000 a year, which is good enough to raise a family of four in San Francisco. Today, my net worth is in the eight figure and I continue to write on Financial Samurai, the top personal finance website today with over one million visitors a month.
Let's Discuss The Age Groups For A Top 1% Income
Below is a chart from 2014 that shows the top one percent and top zero point one percent income. For 2023, the numbers are around 30 percent higher.
Ages 27 – 31: You are in the top one percent income level if you make roughly $170,000. You are in the top 0.1 percent if you make roughly $300,000.
Ages 32 – 36: You are in the top one percent income level if you make roughly $210,000, my ideal income for maximum happiness as an individual. You are in the top 0.1 percent if you make roughly $570,000. We are now in the ideal income zone of $200,000 – $250,000 a year per person where maximum happiness is achieved and increases no further the more you make.
Ages 37 – 41: You are in the top one percent if you make roughly $260,000. You are in the top 0.1 percent if you make roughly $820,000. I'm a little surprised that making only $260,000 at this age puts you in the top 1%. Given the median age in the US is around 34-36 and the median income for the top 1% for all income levels is around $380,000.
Top One Percent Income Entering Middle-Age
Ages 42 – 46: You are in the top one percent income level if you make roughly $320,000, a middle-class lifestyle for a family of four in an expensive city. You are in the top 0.1 percent if you make roughly $1.1M. This age group finally breaks the $1M income barrier. Nobody is going to deny someone making over $1M a year is rich.
Ages 47 – 51: You are in the top one percent income level if you make roughly $360,000. You are in the top 0.1 percent if you make roughly $1.5M. $360,000 is a level which makes the most sense as a top 1% income earner based on IRS data and multiple media reports.
Ages 52 – 58: You are in the top one percent income level if you make roughly $350,000. You are in the top 0.1 percent if you make roughly $1.4M. Finally! The income levels are going down because people are finally living life a little more and not so focused on making more and more money.
All these income figures are great if you can get it. The key is to keep and grow what you've made! Personally, I believe the best age group to be in the top one percent is in your 30s.
Top One Percent Income Learning Points
1) Big differences at the top.
The difference between the top one percent and the top 0.1% in terms of income is huge. When society rages at the top 1%, it should really be raging at the top 0.1% who likely pay a lower effective tax rate because they aren't W2 wage slaves, e.g. Warren Buffett.
Their income is a combination of investment income, long term stock grants, and business income. To get to a top 0.1% income, you need to make at least $1 million a year in 2025+.
Personally, I think paying at most a 24% marginal income tax rate is the ideal tax rate and income to live the best life. In 2024, that was an AGI of $383,900 for a married couple. Not bad! I'd shoot to make a 24% federal marginal income tax bracket income because the next tax bracket jumps 8% to 32%.
2) Your life stage matters.
Even if you make a top one percent income of $260,000 between the ages of 37 – 41, you probably have dependents. And if you live in an expensive city with dependents, then you probably don't feel rich. You may be comfortable, but retirement probably feels like a long ways away.
See: How To Make $200,000 A Year And Still Not Feel Rich
3) Location can be costly.
Earning $210,000 as a 35-year-old in San Francisco might really be like earning a top 0.1 percent income if you live in Topeka. This is why the federal income tax system should be adjusted for cost of living. Three zones with different tax brackets will do: low, medium, high.
Therefore, to make your dollar go farther, you may want to relocate to the heartland of America. After all, the pandemic has catalyzed the work from home trend.
It is exactly due to positive demographic shifts towards lower-cost areas of the country that I've been aggressively investing in real estate crowdfunding deals in these areas since 20017. Real estate is my favorite investment class to build wealth.
4) Education is still important.
Despite everything being free now thanks to the internet, getting an MBA from a top school will probably launch you into the top one percent fairly quickly.
The median pay packages for 29 yo MBAs in finance, consulting, and tech range anywhere from $150,000 – $175,000. Add on stock grants and you're close to $200,000, if not over.
Settle down with another MBA alumni who makes a similar amount and now you guys have a total comp of between $300,000 – $400,000. Who you spend your life with matters.
In addition, going to the best ranked college you can for undergraduate matters as well. Today, roughly 75-100 colleges enable its graduates to earn high income and plenty of career opportunities.
Going to an Ivy League college won't guarantee that you make a top one percent income for your age. However, twenty years after graduating, the median income for Ivy League graduates is about 59% higher than the median income for non-Ivy League graduates.
5) Easier to reach the top as an entrepreneur.
As an experienced employee and entrepreneur, I believe achieving a top one percent income of $650,000+ as an entrepreneur feels easier and probably is easier than as an employee. Both are undoubtedly hard to do, but as an entrepreneur you don't have a visible cap. There is nobody or compensation structure standing in your way.
You can either start your own business or invest in private growth businesses. I've chosen to do both, especially with artificial intellgience growing so much.
Invest in startups through an open venture capital fund like Fundrise Venture. This way, you've got private growth company exposure, but you're not wasting your time. Fundrise Venture invests in artificial intelligence, fintech, proptech, and more. Unlike traditional venture funds that are invite only with $200,000+ minimums, you can invest in Fundrise Venture with as little as $10.
I’ve personally invested over $160,000 in Fundrise Venture to gain more exposure to private artificial intelligence companies. In 20 years, I don’t want my children asking me why I didn’t invest in AI or work in AI near the beginning. Fundrise is also a long-time sponsor of Financial Samurai.
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See: Income Profiles Of Financially Free People
Everything Is Relative In Finance
Below is aggregate taxpayer data I compiled from the IRS that shows the income splits for top 1%, top 5%, top 10%, top 25%, and top 50% income earners. It's a good cross check to the data compiled by Professors Faith Guvenen, Greg Kaplan, and Jae Song above.
My strong belief is that everybody here can make top 10 percent income (~$150,000) if you build multiple income streams, save aggressively, and invest wisely. If you can build a side business and stick with it for a long enough period of time while doing everything else, then a top 1% income might just be inevitable!
The older you get, the more society will allow you to “deserve” what you make and accumulate. Therefore, if you have some strange desire to tell everybody how much you really make if you are doing well at a younger age, use the above charts as a barometer to make sure you aren't clueless. Making yourself a target is a donkey move if you aren't already financially independent.
People in the top one percent income levels demonstrate a fanatic habit of tracking their net worth and spending habits. They develop a 6th sense of what to do with their money. And what's great is that everybody can develop good financial habits as well. There is no monopoly on being wealthier!
Invest In Real Estate To Be A Top One Percent Income Earner
If you want to be a top one percent income earner, then you should invest in income-generating investments such as real estate. All top one percent income earners have multiple passive income streams.
Real estate is a core asset class that has proven to build long-term wealth for Americans. Real estate is a tangible asset that provides utility and a steady stream of income if you own rental properties. Further, real estate will benefit from inflation due to rising rents and property prices.
My two favorite real estate crowdfunding platforms are:
Fundrise: A way for accredited and non-accredited investors to diversify into real estate through private eFunds. Fundrise has been around since 2012 and now manages over $3.2 billion for over 380,000 investors. For most investors, investing in a diversified private real estate fund is the way to go. Fundrise predominantly invests in residential and industrial properties in the Sunbelt, where valuations are lower and yields tend to be higher.
CrowdStreet: A way for accredited investors to invest in individual real estate opportunities mostly in 18-hour cities. 18-hour cities are secondary cities with lower valuations, higher rental yields, and potentially higher growth due to job growth and demographic trends. For those of you with a lot of capital, you can build your own diversified real estate portfolio.
I've personally invested $954,000 in real estate crowdfunding to diversify my net worth and earn income 100% passively. Real estate accounts for roughly $150,000 of my estimated $300,000 in annual passive income. My goal is to consistently earn a top one percent income for my age in terms of passive income (~$280,000).
Both platforms are sponsors of Financial Samurai and Financial Samurai is a six-figure investor in Fundrise funds.
Invest In Private Growth Companies
Finally, consider diversifying into private growth companies through an open venture capital fund. Companies are staying private for longer, as a result, more gains are accruing to private company investors. Finding the next Google or Apple before going public can be a life-changing investment.
Check out the Fundrise venture capital product, which invests in the following five sectors:
- Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
- Modern Data Infrastructure
- Development Operations (DevOps)
- Financial Technology (FinTech)
- Real Estate & Property Technology (PropTech)
Roughly 65% of Fundrise Venture is invested in artificial intelligence, which I'm extremely bullish about. I've personally invested $160,000 in Fundrise Venture for my children.
The investment minimum is also only $10. Most venture capital funds have a $250,000+ minimum. In addition, you can see what Fundrise Venture is holding before deciding to invest and how much. Traditional venture capital funds require capital commitment first and then hope the general partners will find great investments.
The Top One Percent Income Levels By Age Group is a Financial Samurai original post. Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. Since 2009, the newsletter has helped people achieve financial freedom sooner, rather than later.
How do you reconcile this with the state-by-state “top 1% income” lists (cnbc.com/2023/01/24/how-much-money-you-need-to-earn-to-be-in-the-top-1-percent-in-every-us-state.html)?
Like you I was a former IB, and it was pretty standard knowledge that you make $200K at 22, increment by $100K a year if you’re not a moron, and $1M a year by 30. Usually that meant you were an MD by then, or you left for PE, hedge fund, family office, etc..
Five years ago it was well-circulated that top undergrads were getting > $350K annual pay packages coming out of school (wsj.com/articles/no-experience-no-problem-private-equity-lures-newbie-bankers-with-300-000-offers-1540998554).
Friends of mine still in finance peg $10M annual income by 40 as the measure of success, which I could believe.
So it is a function of mean averages pulling up the state lists of incomes?
UChicago ran a report in 2017 using 2015’s income numbers (which, given inflation, should be ~2x at this point) and showed values much higher than yours
(chicagobooth.edu/review/never-mind-1-percent-lets-talk-about-001-percent).
Just curious, as from my own perspective I think the source of your figures downplays the true extent of wealth. I personally know several billionaires who do not show up on the Forbes list (they own private companies or have myriad holdings that make identification challenging), and would estimate the number of billionaires to be at least one exponential increase over Forbes’ numbers.
I agree there’s more money out there than people really know. Long live stealth wealth!
Using current income as a measure of where one sits as a percentile on the economic scale is hugely deceptive. Over the past 20 years, I have been everywhere from top 0.05% to bottom quintile (no income). These are not persistently static categories. People have good years and bad years.
Congratulations on having 1,000 readers who make $1M or more each year. I don’t know anybody in real life that makes that much.
You don’t have a voting box for me. I made around $300K at my peak in a good year. Then I switched to becoming a real estate investor. I barely cash flow. With depreciation I’m running a loss. I contribute a negative number to our household income.
It’s a good thing my Plan A (working spouse) keeps this house of cards afloat. ;-)
But as you know, income isn’t everything. My focus is on minimizing income and taxes while growing net worth.
3) Location matters. Earning $210,000 as a 35 year old in San Francisco might really be like earning a top 0.1% income if you live in Topeka. This is why the federal income tax system should be adjusted for cost of living. Three zones with different tax brackets will do: low, medium, high.
WRONG! People here in Kansas average less money than the coasts, so you elitists think you know how we live. YOU DO NOT!
You want us to pay for your lifestyles. You move to nice weather, more business opportunity, better services, better pay, but higher prices. That’s YOUR choice!
If you live in California, you already get free state college. WE DO NOT, IN KANSAS!
In no way should we subsidize your choices. Move here if you want a cheaper home and a better family life.
Do not covet our money and steal even more from us!
How about we reverse things? You get nicer weather, more business opportunities, better services, and more pay. By that “logic,” then YOU should pay a higher tax rate than WE do.
…but -> *neither* <- is a fair system. We should pay the SAME rate. DUH!
You make your choices, we make ours. I'm not subsidizing your lifestyle choices.
Both MUST pay the same rates, PERIOD!
We're filling out our taxes right now (in 2020) and yes, we are getting ripped off, as somebody who's middle class, in Kansas, and see this hand-over-your-money-to-me elitist TRIPE!
I'm losing more and more tax breaks, while our health insurance is going up (has been yearly, since at least 2008) and our kids' college costs keep going up (while we no longer qualify for student tax breaks or per-child tax credits.)
…and YOU want US to pay your WAY to surf and play outside?! REALLY?!
HOW DARE YOU!!!
***NO WAY!***
What kind of rambling comment is this? You think that people in california surf all day? Uh no.
Ps we don’t get free 4 year college in california
California is a “tuition free state” and has been since the 60s. However, the “fees” more than cover the gap created by “tuition free”.
Productive coastal blue state tax payers pay a disproportionate amount to the federal government and do not see an even return on their dollar in the form of federal spending while flyover states live off the federal redistribution of coastal wealth, or Communism™. Most flyover and southern states would be essentially third world countries (and I was personally stationed in more than one third world country) if it weren’t for the federal redistribution of wealth from coastal -> flyover and from metro -> rural. Everything from farm subsidies to the Rural Air Service (lmao, really?) to the federal highway system that spends disproportionately more to service low population density areas than it does in San Francisco, New York City, or Atlanta.
This is just not true if you read how the analysis was done. Texas is a big recipient of federal dollars because there are a large number of military folks there. The study considers this military spending to be the same as welfare. The study had a set of desired results and then the data was manipulated to get to that answer. It by no means says what you think it does. They data can easily (and perhaps more honestly) be made to show the blue state are net recipients of government spending.
Californians do not get free state college, the average yearly tuition is a very high $8k.UC tuition is $15k per year. Add in room and board and books and college is out of reach for many.
Our health insurance costs have gone up considerably every year as well the past 20 years, this is a National crisis.
No one is suggesting you should subsidize our lifestyle choices but given your comments, I’m reminded why I will never leave California. Gotta go, mimosas calling my name on my deck over looking the coast.
“This is why the federal income tax system should be adjusted for cost of living.”
Lol wut? If one chooses to live in a high cost of living area, that is his/her prerogative, but other people who choose to forgo more “desirable” areas shouldn’t be penalized for it.
Agree with this 100%
Repeal the Federal Income Tax on individual income and let states raise funds on their own. Coastal taxpayers should stop subsidizing flyover country in the form of Federal Government Welfare.
32-36 here, roughly $300k a year combined income as a software consultant in the D.C metro. I will say it’s easier to make this much as an employee if you work smart..for me anyway.
I have a software business that I started with my friend 7 years ago, but we were only able to make around $100k in combined sales such far and that’s with 10 times the work that I have invested into my day jobs. Did not work smart for sure.
I am nowhere in the top5% , but now i am taking steps to see i can move up the ladder.I do save money in good ratio.Lets see where we land up.
Thanks for putting it in this perspective Sam. Looking at these numbers, becoming a 1%-er doesn’t seem very far from where most people start in life. 1% is actually around 3.2Mill people. That’s a lot of millionaires. You could have an entire state(even a small country) only with millionaires.
I am 28, my wife is going to be 28 soon. As entrepreneurs we know we save almost or probably double than what a high earner makes. when an entrepreneur makes 250k a year through a business it would be safe to assume that (eg. a doctor) has to make probably more than 350 in order to make the same amount of money as an entrepreneur.
why? simple you can spend 6k to 10k a year in a car and it could be a company expense, orher extras gas, insurances repairs etc. You can technically add a lot of personal buys into a company card like short trips, food etc… you can go an meet propects and that spenditure goes through your company cc. and so on… those are things that a regular employee cant compare vs an entrepreneur.
Also, tax benefits that business owner have, that you can make a lot and only pay 20% tax overall.
i see a lot of blogs but, i cant find any that are truly from start to finish business owners. maybe because business owners dont want attention, and pay less taxes than they should? anyways, if anyone knows of good blogs that is from an entrepreneur perspective and not online based ,share please.
also, i may sell my business soon.
Have a small goal of figuring out a way to move from 28 percent tax bracket to 33 percent bracket, in next couple of years. This small goal amounts to figuring out a way to make another 25k to 35k a year. Don’t fear and complain about taxes all the time, embrace them. I still wouldnt be in top one percentage for age group but think im already in top 1 percent by demographic. Its about perspective sometimes.
I have a similar attitude … I _want_ to pay more taxes! But only if it means that I am making that much more :-) (and not because some socialist wants to redistributed the money I have earned)
Why do you want to pay more taxes? Just curious.
These charts show the numbers how our peers do currently. “How much is 1% or 0.1% ” is something good to know. Celebrate a little if you are in it, work a little harder if you are not in it yet.
But in the end of day, how much you get to keep and how much of that is left to working for you are the key.
Sam, keep in mind that not all work their max, for example some only put in about 6 days of work per month still make well into 100K Remaining days are for travel, sports, and chasing tail. This is ultimate success in this world, most bang for the buck, haha…
Thank you for this article. As an Accountant major who is also very interested in Finance as well, you clarify a bit more for me as far as the 1% and .01%. As a student with 2 jobs I tend to forget that individuals with higher incomes may not be just wage income earnings. You reminded me of the other forms of income (interest/investment) and I am making more sense of this progressive tax rate and effective tax rate. How it can be fair/unfair to some. Helps me to put it a bit more in perspective as a student. Thank you!
Absolutely fantastic post. Comments demonstrate it should be required reading.
“I thought the numbers would be higher???”
Yeah no crap… Because upper .01% of .01% politicians are using “1%!!!” as a battle cry knowing full well its a lot safer to keep thr hordes focusing their rage on those who make slightly to moderately more than them, but are still “wage slaves”. That way the *actually* wealthy have a nice buffer.
People hate the guy next door with the new deck and BMW with a passion, but stare in awe and admiration at the whale in the chauffeur driven Bentley.
Thanks for collecting the data, I am surprised that the gap between 1 and .1% is so high, I like your points when cost of living is factored in – hearing about salaries on the coasts always intrigues me.
170K for a 27-31 yr old would be an insane amount of money in Minnesota – You would be doing very well at 170K as a household with two income earners.
Here is a pretty interesting calculator that shows what you would need to make if you were to move to a new city/state.
If you lived off 100K in Minneapolis – this shows you would need about 129K in Los Angeles
There are many aspects of income and it’s not as simple as the graph would indicate. There are HUGE differences in net income between someone that is employed and a business owner. Citing gross income, in my opinion, is a bit of puffery. A person making 1M with no deductions takes a 60% or greater hit after taxes. On the other hand, a business owner making the same 1M can use taxes to their advantage and keep the majority of that income. It’s what you keep that counts.
Next are expenses. I interpret the graph as the younger you are the less expenses you have and therefore the less money you need to attain the 1% or .1% level. Would the graph level out if across the age ranges if you were not married? Or had no children? Or had little debt? It takes a lot less net income to live like royalty with little debt or financial responsibilities.
Sam preaches the 250k limit but I think that should be qualified. Individuals that are employed should not exceed that income because taxes will kill you after that. For business owners that number is not relevant due to tax deductions. As for happiness? Sam is spot on. After you reach a certain amount more means little.
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.
Agree. Michael, where are you on the work spectrum: employee or entrepreneur?
The joy of making much more than $250K a year as a W2 wage earner really drops off a cliff due to the taxes and more work and stress required to hit those figures.
I would say a $250K a year salary is equivalent to a $150K a year entrepreneurial salary for happiness.
I’ll be honest – the results of your survey do not make me feel amazing about my current salary.
But I WILL say that this post makes me want to work smarter, hustle harder, and work my way up quickly in terms of earnings.
Im shocked how low the thresholds are. This country is going down the tubea.
a graduated tax rate based on where you live and what the cost of living is? isn’t that a highly regressive tax?
It would be regressive in high cost of living areas relative to today but progressive in low cost of living areas and net neutral overall. That being said, its hardly regressive by any stretch of the definition of the word when it comes to taxes with 46% paying nothing and the top 1% paying 40%.
Looking closer at the IRS table… I find it a bit comical that only 139 Million filing show as Positive AGI in a country that has over 400million residents… Thats not even half of the population paying taxes (Even if its married filing jointly, the number still seems lower than I expected)… Is that right or am I reading something wrong ?
A lot of them are either dependents, stay at home mom/parents, or retired
To be fair – only ~325 million people in the US, not 400m+
As Ariel J said, you have dependents, students, stay at home parents, retired and lazy.
To further blow your brain, 46% of the 139 million pay no federal income taxes, so 75 million people are paying all the federal taxes for 325 million Americans. Put another, only 1 in 4 contribute to running the federal government and only 4 in 10 contribute to running the federal government or retirement programs. And you wonder the country has drifted left in the last 100 years, that’s why.
I’ve seen the future of America, and it looks so bright.
Making it to top 1 as an employee can be challenge. Each corporate I worked for has a quite fixed pay schedule, depending on your level. Climbing the ladder is tied to yearly evaluation proceses. You need to be a high potential and have a good senior sponsor to move up fast and furious… And the higher you go, the less places there are.
As an entrepreneur there is no visible limit, when your business is not time vs money related.
I would agree. Owning your own business has a better chance of making $1m plus versus being an employee. I started a business 25 years ago and I worked my ass off but I’m making over 1 million…giving half to the government but I also feel good employing people.
As noted in another comments, I found these figures confusing. Are we talking about AGI, taxable income, MAGi, W2 income, per capita or per household income, etc?
When people are asked how much they make, they usually refer to their gross income, but many of the statistics that can be found around refer to one of the above measures, so it is very hard to grasp where one stands.
Nice post. It’s beneficial for people to see how they compare to the highest earners and it can be very motivational.
I took a look at the results of the poll and was surprised to see more than 100 people voted that they made $2 million+ as an individual! You sure have attracted some high-earning readers, Sam. Would be nice for some of them to share what they do.
I’m pretty sure most are entrepreneurs or work in finance. I’m telling folks, if you want a chance to make BIG money, entrepreneurship is the way to go.
See: Bankers, Techies, Doctors: You’ll Never Get Rich Working For Someone Else
These numbers look really low. Are they just W2 income, or do they also include passive income?
A 35yo year old who makes $210k in passive and active income doesn’t seem like a 1%’er to me. That means not being able to afford a median home in some of the largest US cities, but being wealthier than 99% of people your age.
Getting into the top 1% is a goal of mine (which I had thought was closer to $400k a year), but it looks like I already made it.
I had the same reaction. I read the article and concluded that being in the top 1% is a little overrated, although I say this tongue in cheek because I know life’s easier for me than it is for my close friend who is a teacher. If most of your income is still w-2 income, there is still plenty of struggle and budgeting required. I guess the truly wealthy are the top 1% by income and networth, or really the top .1%
This is great you think these top 1% numbers are low per age group. It means you are doing well for your age, and also perhaps a lot more people make a lot more money than people think.
You can still shoot for the overall top 1% income figure of $380,000 – $400,000 if you wish. Let me know how life is once you get there.
380-400k as a couple or person? We are 40 and it’s ok at about the low end of that figure when you add everything up but doesn’t kick ass in LA. Granted that includes 2 incomes and multiple rental properties but I think we are probably in the top 15-20% and have decent cars and
travel when we like but couldn’t afford a new house in Manhattan Beach or Beverly Hills unless we sold our rentals
I think if you’re smart about your career path, make changes often to help your income grow you can get to the 1% at a decent pace. Yes, it is all relative. Sometimes just purely based upon the industry or profession you choose out of college can affect base income HUGELY.