While Generation Z seems totally disconnected from the reality of salaries in France, do you know at what monthly amount we can consider ourselves rich in our country? You might just be surprised!
Life would undoubtedly be more comfortable with a few thousand euros more in our bank account. With the cost of living constantly increasing and annual inflation which last year stood at +4.9%, it is not easy to save or live decently. And we might as well tell you that we don’t need to draw a picture for you: salaries don’t keep up! So it is not surprising that a very small part of the French population is considered rich.
For a good ten years, the French Observatory of Economic Conditions (OFCE) has been carrying out a study on different standards of living in order to draw some conclusions. This allows us to know a little more about how the French are doing financially. And, while everyone finds it unsurprising that they never earn enough money, there are nevertheless very concrete economic levels to know where one is on the scale going from poverty to extreme wealth.
The Observatory calculated the median standard of living based on very specific criteria: “The latter is calculated by dividing the population into two equal parts: the 50% of individuals who have a standard of living below the median and the 50% who have a standard of living above. The median level is therefore in the middle of the income scale. As a reminder, in 2023, the median net salary in France was 1850 euros.
But then how much do you have to receive each month in your bank account to be categorized as “rich” in France? According to the Report on the Rich in France, a tiny part of the population would be considered rich since we are talking about 7 to 8% of the population! It is thus formulated that a single person who receives 3860 euros each month is rich. Obviously, as the director of the Observatory of Inequalities explains:this amount takes into account all the income declared by this person, after deduction of income tax. This includes in particular her salary, the social benefits she receives, her property income, for example rental income, as well as income from her financial investments.
This wealth threshold therefore varies if you have children, if you are a couple or if you are a single-parent family. The Observatory of Inequalities is very clear on the thresholds presented, specifying that the poverty threshold ranges from 965 euros (single) to 2,700 euros (family of five), and the wealth threshold from 3,860 euros to 10,800 euros.