Americans say you need $2.2 million to be rich, according to a new survey

• You need to have $2.2 million to be wealthy, according to a Charles Schwab survey of 1,000 Americans.
• But respondents who said they personally felt wealthy had, on average, $560,000 in total assets.

You need $2.2 million if you want to be rich, according to a new survey.

In a survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by Logica Research for financial services company Charles Schwab, respondents said on average that people in their area needed $2.2 million in personal net worth to "be considered wealthy."

Just under half of the respondents – 48% – said that they personally felt either somewhat or very wealthy. But of these people who reported feeling wealthy, they had an average of $560,000 in total assets, including retirement funds held by employers but excluding real estate.

There were significant differences between generations. The most likely generation to say they felt wealthy was millennials, at 57%, compared to 40% of boomers. But boomers who said they felt wealthy had the highest average net worth at $692,000, compared to $410,000 among Gen X respondents, suggesting considerable differences in perceived wealth between age groups.

As of 2019, the average net worth of American families was $746,820, according to the Federal Reserve's 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, while the median was $121,700. Net worth was the highest for people who at the time were aged between 65 and 74 years.

Elon Musk, the world's richest person, has an estimated net worth of $230 billion, per the Bloomberg's Billionaire Index. According to the index, 199 people – Charles Schwab himself included – have an estimated net worth of $10 billion or more.

Time is more important than money, the majority of respondents to the Charles Schwab survey said. But this, too, varied significantly by age – 67% of boomers said that time was more important than money compared to 56% of millennials.