--- title: Why Rich People Think the Poor Aren't That Poor description: A new study shows that rich Americans tend to think that all Americans are wealthier than the reality. This may be why the rich see less need for wealth distribution. authors: - name: Ian Salisbury role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/ian-salisbury-2/ bio: Ian Salisbury was a senior editor at Money, focusing on investing, banks and mortgage. at_money_since: 2013 articles: 91 covers: - Economy and Politics - Housing - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true published: '2015-07-29T20:27:02.000Z' modified: '2024-02-23T10:03:52.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Inequality - poverty - pubdesk - redistribution - rich - Wealth word_count: 259 canonical: https://money.com/rich-poor-income-perceptions/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![two couples on a yacht](https://img.money.com/2015/07/150729_em_richfriends.jpg) When Jacob Riis published his study of New York tenement life in 1890, he called it [*How the Other Half Lives*](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/pioneering-social-reformer-jacob-riis-revealed-how-other-half-lives-america-180951546/?no-ist), as if people really needed to know. More than a century later, many of us are still suffering from the same type of myopia, at least according to a recent study by psychologists in the U.K. and New Zealand and [reported in *The Washington Post*](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/28/rich-people-surrounded-by-other-rich-people-think-america-is-richer-than-it-really-is/) Tuesday. The study of 600 Americans, conducted over the Internet, found wealthy people tended to report particularly high levels of wealth in their social circles. While that may not be surprising, that cossetting seemed to lead in turn to wealthier Americans over-estimating average wealth among the general U.S. population -- as well as assuming "greater perceived fairness" in the economy. In other words, the rich still think the most Americans are doing okay-- or should be -- because they and their friends are. The results certainly have political implications. The authors suggest the rich might be more open to wealth redistribution if they had a truer sense of America's income inequality and how the economic landscape appears to the poor. Students of behavioral finance might also see the new research as the flip side of a behavioral tick that has long bedeviled anyone struggling to keep a budget. It's long been established that having wealthy friends and neighbors tends to [shift your lifestyle expectations](https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schor-overspent.html): We all want to keep up the the Joneses. But that's not necessarily healthy for your [budget](https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/tired-of-keeping-up-with-the-joneses/) or your [sense of well-being](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cant-buy-happiness/201301/why-youll-never-be-able-keep-the-joneses). ***Read next: Rich People’s Biggest Money Regrets*** ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/rich-poor-income-perceptions/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Inequality and Discrimination", "item": "https://money.com/inequality-and-discrimination/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Why Rich People Think the Poor Aren't That Poor" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/rich-poor-income-perceptions/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/rich-poor-income-perceptions/", "name": "Why Rich People Think the Poor Aren't That Poor", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-07-29T20:27:02.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/rich-poor-income-perceptions/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/rich-poor-income-perceptions/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-02-23T10:03:52.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Why Rich People Think the Poor Aren't That Poor", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/07/150729_em_richfriends.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1395, "caption": "150729_EM_RichFriends" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ian Salisbury", "url": "https://money.com/author/ian-salisbury-2/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ian-salisbury-2/#author", "description": "Ian Salisbury was a senior editor at Money, focusing on investing, banks and mortgage.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/06/Ian-Salisbury.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-07-29T20:27:02.000Z", "description": "A new study shows that rich Americans tend to think that all Americans are wealthier than the reality. 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