Overview
- Between 2003 and 2022, the average income of very high‑income households rose from €469,000 to €1,000,000, while their average income tax rate declined from 29.2% to 25.7%, contributing €10.7 billion in 2022 (13% of income tax).
- Income for the richest is far more diversified, with roughly 47% from financial capital and 38% from salaries and pensions, helping explain faster growth and greater volatility at the top.
- Nearly half of very high‑income households live in Île‑de‑France—mainly Paris and Hauts‑de‑Seine—and the group skews male and older, with many reference persons aged 50 to 69.
- In 2023, 1% of private‑sector posts paid more than €10,219 net per month and the top 0.1% at least €27,066, with 77% of top‑1% posts held by the same employee as a year earlier and 36 of the top 100 salaries earned by professional footballers.
- INSEE also links high wealth to inheritance—62% of households combining high patrimony and high living standards report having inherited—while separate DGFiP data published this week indicate the top 10% of taxpayers pay about three‑quarters of income tax.