Money
Visualizing American Income Levels by Age Group
Visualizing American Income Levels by Age Group
There are two commonly held beliefs around income and age:
1) Earning trajectory is largely determined by the time a person is 35-years-old
2) Income is positively correlated with age
How do these beliefs stand up to the actual income data? As it turns out, quite well.
Today’s data, from the IPUMS.org Current Population Survey, is a detailed look at income by age group.
The $50K Threshold
In the age of LinkedIn bragging it’s no surprise that two-thirds of people who are being paid the market rate believe they’re actually underpaid.
For people just starting out in the workforce, there can be a lot of pressure to earn a higher salary, but as the data shows, only a tiny percentage of workers under the age of 25 surpass a salary of $50K.
The majority of people in the work force make their greatest income strides between the ages of 30 and 35, with median income jumping by 26% during that short time-frame.
After the age of 35, the percentage of people earning $50K or more is surprisingly consistent until retirement age, hovering between 42% and 48%.
The $100K Threshold
Making $100K per year won’t put you in the top 1% – you’ll need to earn $300K to join that club – however, it’s still enough to live comfortably in most places in America.
Approximately 21 million people in the U.S. workforce earn over $100K. Here’s how they break down by age.
Interestingly, the percentage of Americans earning $100K or more jumps from 2% to 12%, and moves very little after that. Put another way, it’s rare for anyone in their 20s to earn over $100K, but many people who hit that threshold do so by the time they turn 40.
Much like those earning $50K or more, the percentage of $100K+ earners stays fairly consistent until retirement, peaking at age 66.
Individual salary situations will vary widely, of course, but it’s interesting to zoom out at the big picture of income in America.
Money
De-Dollarization: Countries Seeking Alternatives to the U.S. Dollar
The U.S. dollar is the dominant currency in the global financial system, but some countries are following the trend of de-dollarization.

De-Dollarization: Countries Seeking Alternatives to U.S. Dollar
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The U.S. dollar has dominated global trade and capital flows over many decades.
However, many nations are looking for alternatives to the greenback to reduce their dependence on the United States.
This graphic catalogs the rise of the U.S. dollar as the dominant international reserve currency, and the recent efforts by various nations to de-dollarize and reduce their dependence on the U.S. financial system.
The Dollar Dominance
The United States became, almost overnight, the leading financial power after World War I. The country entered the war only in 1917 and emerged far stronger than its European counterparts.
As a result, the dollar began to displace the pound sterling as the international reserve currency and the U.S. also became a significant recipient of wartime gold inflows.
The dollar then gained a greater role in 1944, when 44 countries signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, creating a collective international currency exchange regime pegged to the U.S. dollar which was, in turn, pegged to the price of gold.
By the late 1960s, European and Japanese exports became more competitive with U.S. exports. There was a large supply of dollars around the world, making it difficult to back dollars with gold. President Nixon ceased the direct convertibility of U.S. dollars to gold in 1971. This ended both the gold standard and the limit on the amount of currency that could be printed.
Although it has remained the international reserve currency, the U.S. dollar has increasingly lost its purchasing power since then.
Russia and China’s Steps Towards De-Dollarization
Concerned about America’s dominance over the global financial system and the country’s ability to ‘weaponize’ it, other nations have been testing alternatives to reduce the dollar’s hegemony.
As the United States and other Western nations imposed economic sanctions against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and the Chinese government have been teaming up to reduce reliance on the dollar and to establish cooperation between their financial systems.
Since the invasion in 2022, the ruble-yuan trade has increased eighty-fold. Russia and Iran are also working together to launch a cryptocurrency backed by gold, according to Russian news agency Vedmosti.
In addition, central banks (especially Russia’s and China’s) have bought gold at the fastest pace since 1967 as countries move to diversify their reserves away from the dollar.
How Other Countries are Reducing Dollar Dependence
De-dollarization it’s a theme in other parts of the world:
- In recent months, Brazil and Argentina have discussed the creation of a common currency for the two largest economies in South America.
- In a conference in Singapore in January, multiple former Southeast Asian officials spoke about de-dollarization efforts underway.
- The UAE and India are in talks to use rupees to trade non-oil commodities in a shift away from the dollar, according to Reuters.
- For the first time in 48 years, Saudi Arabia said that the oil-rich nation is open to trading in currencies besides the U.S. dollar.
Despite these movements, few expect to see the end of the dollar’s global sovereign status anytime soon. Currently, central banks still hold about 60% of their foreign exchange reserves in dollars.
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