The average American’s income was $43,313 in 2023, the latest year for which U.S. Census data is available. Elon Musk, on the other hand, has earned about $147 billion in the last year, based on changes in his net worth cited by Forbes Real-Time Billionaires. That’s 3,393,900 times more money than the average American.
It’s hard to wrap your head around that kind of figure, so GOBankingRates did some math to put Musk’s wealth into perspective.
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Comparing Musks’ Money to the Average American’s
- You know how a $1 bill feels inconsequential? For Elon Musk, $3,393,900 feels the same way.
- The average American earns $28.82 per hour. Musk? A cool $70,673,077.
- Musk earns about $19,631 per second. The average American has to work nearly 5.5 months to earn that much.
- Americans are struggling to buy homes, which currently have an average value of $369,147, per Zillow. Elon Musk’s annual income would let him purchase 1,091 of them.
- Most Americans spend $11 to $30 to dine out in 2024, per U.S. Food. Say the average is $25 per person this year. That’s about equivalent to Musk buying Chipotle Mexican Grill and Texas Roadhouse at their current market capitalizations, with enough money left over to treat the entire populations of New York and California to dinner.
- If you face an unexpected emergency expense, you might have to dip into your savings to cover it. The average American family had $62,410 transactions accounts in 2022, the most recent year for which Federal Reserve data is available. Musk could find himself in a bind, too. After all, big money can bring big money problems. But Musk has roughly $129.92 billion worth of Tesla stock he can cash in — or, more likely, borrow against, to avoid paying capital gains tax.
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Let’s Throw Tesla Into the Mix
Of course, no Elon Musk wealth comparison is complete without a Tesla example. At a starting price of $99,990, the Cyberbeast is a major splurge for the average American. Musk, on the other hand, would have to fund the entire Texas state budget for two years to feel the same pinch, according to The Texas Tribune.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Elon Musk Has Almost 4 Million Times More Money Than You — Here’s What That Looks Like
