Many people want to succeed in their careers. Some struggle, and others find ways to do well. There is a small segment of the population who were able to amass financial fortunes for their efforts. Earning an annual income of $1 million or more is a remarkable achievement. This milestone is attainable, but rare. Less than 0.5% of U.S. households earn over $1 million annually, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data and recent payroll analyses. In high-earning regions such as the San Francisco Bay Area, only about 0.54% of employees reach this threshold.
Wall Street and Finance
Certain industries are constructed to produce high earners. A confluence of factors like economic dynamics, market demand, having the right skills and being in the right place at the right time helps.
The finance sector, encompassing the stock market, hedge funds, and private equity, is a money generating powerhouse. Hedge fund managers who oversee portfolios with assets exceeding $250 million can earn between $500,000 and $3 million annually. This is how it works. Hedge fund managers traditionally are compensated under what is called a “2 and 20” fee structure. This entails a charge of a 2% annual management fee on the fund’s assets under management (AUM) and a 20% performance fee on the fund’s profits. As their portfolio grows, the higher the payout will be for the manager.
According to Institutional Investor, Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, earned approximately $2.6 billion in 2023, making him the third highest-earning hedge fund manager that year.
The 2024 North American Private Equity Investment Professional Compensation Survey by Heidrick & Struggles indicates, private equity managing directors and partners typically earn total cash compensation including base salary plus bonus, ranging from $700,000 to $2 million, depending on fund size and performance.
Private equity (PE), including firms like BlackRock, is an investment strategy in which PE acquires stakes in other privately or publicly held companies, with the goal of increasing their value and then selling them off for big profits.
Investment banking Managing Directors (MDs) at bulge-bracket investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, facilitate large deals like mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings (IPOs). If successful, this can earn total compensation packages that exceed $1 million per year for the MDs. This includes a base salary typically between $350,000 and $600,000, with bonuses often matching or exceeding base salaries.
Real Estate, Sports, and Entertainment
Real estate is another lucrative area. Top agents in luxury markets like Los Angeles earn huge commissions on multimillion-dollar properties. Luxury real estate agents in Los Angeles and similar markets, typically earn commissions ranging from 2% to 3% per transaction. For a $10 million sale, a 3% commission would be about $300,000. Agents who hustle to sell these high priced homes can hit the one million or more level. However, commission rates are often negotiated, and for high-value properties, agents may accept lower percentages.
Professional sports and entertainment mint millionaires through their talent. Elite athletes in the NBA, NFL, and MLB secure contracts worth tens of millions of dollars annually. For example, LeBron James earned a salary of about $48.7 million in 2024, according to Forbes. Additionally, his total earnings, including endorsements, reached around $128 million. LeBron’s endorsement deals alone are estimated at around $80 million annually.
A-list actors and entertainers mirror this. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is a US-based labor union for film, television, video games, and commercial performers. Their rates of $2,000–$3,000 per day could potentially total millions. The real big money is in the blockbuster movies and television serieses. Well known actors stars like Dwayne Johnson can earn $20 million per film, per industry data. Influencers and media personalities, like Jim Cramer, can make millions through TV deals and sponsorships, with continuing fast growth in the influencer creator economy valued at $250 billion in 2024 per Goldman Sachs.
Entrepreneurship, Healthcare and CEOs
Entrepreneurship offers a way to wealth. Founders in tech, and Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists can hit it big. Also, mom-and-pop retail, or services can scale to businesses making million-dollar profits. About 1% of U.S. small business owners, roughly 300,000, achieve this annually, per IRS data.
Healthcare, especially highly specialized medicine, enables seven-figure incomes, with top neurosurgeons and cardiac surgeons often exceeding $1 million in private practice. This is driven by demand for life-saving procedures, per a 2023 physician compensation study.
Corporate leadership is a significant driver, with S&P 500 CEOs earning a median of $17.9 million in 2025 (projected from Equilar’s 2023 figure of $16.3 million), while the top 100 CEOs at firms with over $1 billion in revenue reach a median of $32 million.
The highest earners, like the low key profile Jim Anderson, the head of Saxonburg, Pa.-based company Coherent, which makes equipment and products for networks and laser systems, is the new highest-paid CEO in the U.S. with a total salary of $101,497,009 for 2024, according to executive intelligence company Equilar. Moon shots like Elon Musk, heading Tesla, SpaceX, the X-platform, Neuralink and other endeavors may potentially be hitting $1 billion in stock and incentive based pay or more.
Tech Professionals
The tech sector is a major contributor to high earners. Typical compensation packages for senior software engineers and managers at top tech firms like Google, Meta, and Apple, ranges from $200,000 to $500,000. With stock appreciation, stock grants, bonuses and restricted stock units (RSUs), compensation where an employer grants shares of company stock, which vest over a specific period, tied to performance or time with the company, could propel the total package into the seven figure club. Some tech titans who are in a hot space, such as AI, can see $1 million and more in a strong year, often due to large equity grants, RSUs or stock windfalls.
Insights Into the Path to Seven Figures
One underappreciated factor in these careers is the power of leverage. In finance, earnings scale with assets managed. $1 billion at a 2% fee nets $20 million for the firm, a chunk of which flows to the manager. Tech professionals leverage equity, where RSUs can multiply total compensation during market booms, though this ties earnings to volatile stock performance, a risk often overlooked.
In real estate and entrepreneurship, leveraging loans or investor capital can amplify returns. Timing is another critical element. Finance and tech professionals thrive in bull markets, while athletes and entertainers face short peak earning windows. LeBron James’ pivot to a business empire exemplifies the need to diversify early.
The path to $1 million is filled with setbacks. This includes failed startups, market crashes, athletes getting injured. Hollywood stars lose their luster or get bad investment advice can quickly make a person lose their one million plus compensation.