Explainer · 2026

Are You Wealthy? Net Worth Percentiles, Explained

"Wealthy" is a local question. The same net worth ranks above the median in one country and in the top few percent in another.

With $200,000 in net worth, our model places you above the US median, top-tier in Vietnam, and roughly middling in Switzerland.

How percentiles work

A percentile tells you what share of adults you're ahead of. Being at the 60th percentile means you're wealthier than 60% of adults. Wealth distributions are extremely skewed, so the gap between "median" and "rich" is far wider than between "poor" and "median".

Why the same money ranks differently

Median net worth spans from about $9,000 in parts of Latin America and emerging Asia to $230,000 in Switzerland — a 25× gap. Your percentile is measured against the country's own distribution, so the same dollar means different things in different places.

Three rules of thumb

Median is the middle, not the average. Averages are dragged up by the wealthy few.
The top tail is enormous. The top 1% starts far above the top 10% — log scales flatten this.
Country is everything. Always ask "rich where?" before "am I rich?"

Find your percentile in 30 countries →