Economics: Why So Many Rich People Don't Feel Very Rich

The line gets much steeper because at the very top of the income scale, the monetary divisions between percentiles grow much greater. Those in the middle earn a little less than people a few percentiles up from them, whereas those at the top earn a lot less than their counterparts in nearby, higher percentiles.

For example, those who aspire to hop from the 30th percentile to the 35th percentile would need to increase their cash income by $4,000 annually (or by about 17 percent); those who aspire to hop from the 91st percentile to the 96th percentile would require an increase of $324,900 (or 171 percent).

From Why So Many Rich People Don't Feel Very Rich by Catherine Rampell, Januaryalarmat 11, 2011 at Economix Blog, New York Times.