From what level of income is we rich? Delicate question, which are careful not to answer politicians. But statistical organizations offer interesting figures.
The 2025 finance bill, which is commonly called “the budget”, agitates both political class and public opinion. And in particular the proposal of an “surcharge on high incomes”, which revives the eternal debate to know who is “rich” and who is “poor” in France. The subject is both complex and sensitive, because wealth can be apprehended in several ways, by income or heritage. And even by only holding income, the definition of “objective” thresholds from which we are “rich” or “poor” is delicate.
An official poverty line exists well, set at 60 % of the median level of the population in mainland France. The standard of living corresponds to the disposable income of a household, divided by the number of consumption unit (UC) of the household. The first adult has for 1 UC, other people over 14 years old for 0.5 UC each, and children under the age of 14 for 0.3 UC each.
According to the 2024 edition of the Household Income and Heritage Reportvery recently published by INSEE, this median standard of living was, in mainland France, of 2,028 euros per month in 2022. That is to say that half of the population had monthly income below this threshold, once reported to the composition of their home in number of consumption units.
Thus, the threshold of poverty for this period was established at 1,216 euros per month one single month, and at 2,554 euros monthly for a couple with two children under the age of 14. But what about the “wealth threshold”? The INSEE does not directly calculate this indicator, because it does not offer a definition, quite simply. But another organization does it: The Observatory of inequalities.
This independent association therefore proposes to define the threshold of wealth the double of the median standard of living of the population. This definition is obviously arbitrary, but no more than that of the poverty line (why 60 %, and not 50 or 70 % for example?), And we can obviously criticize it. But it offers at least the possibility of giving itself some marks and orders of magnitude.
On the basis of the INSEE report quoted above, The inequalities observatory offers a wealth threshold for different types of families. According to his calculations, a cleaning is considered rich from the following monthly income: 4,056 euros for a single person, 6,084 euros for a couple without children, or 10,138 euros for a couple with two children under 14.
For a single person, this threshold therefore represents an annual available income of € 48,672 after taxes. Add two information to put this figures in perspective. On the one hand, only 10 % of the population of mainland France exceed this annual income threshold. On the other hand, the famous “surcharge on high incomes” mentioned at the beginning of article, only concerns households whose income is greater than … 250,000 euros annually for a single person. Or more than five times more than the wealth threshold as defined by the observatory of inequalities. Suffice to say that this threshold only concerns people who could be described as “very rich”.