You’ve probably heard of people discussing “figures” when talking about finance and salaries. In this article, we’ll explain how much 9 figures is and also explain how the term “figures” is used in the context of finance and wealth.
How much is 9 figures?
A 9 figure salary refers to an annual income between $100,000,000 and $999,999,999. We call this range “9 figures” because every number in this range consists of 9 digits.
You’ll almost never hear the term 9 figures used when discussing salaries, since it represents a truly massive amount of money. There are very few people in the world who make $100 million or more a year, and the income of those who do mostly consists of income streams other than a salary. 9-figure earners usually make the bulk of their money in the form of investments, interest, royalties and other revenue streams beyond their salary.
So, instead of referring to someone’s salary, the term “9 figures” is more often used to refer to the net worth of very wealthy individuals, the size of large investment deals or real estate transactions, and so forth.
Here’s a quick explanation of the numbers people have in mind when talking about figures and money:
| 5 figures | $10,000 - $99,999 |
|---|---|
| 6 figures | $100,000 - $999,999 |
| 7 figures | $1,000,000 - $9,999,999 |
| 8 figures | $10,000,000 - $99,999,999 |
| 9 figures | $100,000,000 - $999,999,999 |
Earning 9 figures is extremely difficult
The list of people who earn $100 million or more per year is largely populated by highly successful entrepreneurs and investors. In terms of traditional careers, it’s practically impossible to reach the 9 figure per year threshold.
While the most talented and hard-working people in sports and entertainment can certainly earn large sums of money, only a few are capable of making more than $100 million in a single year.
Let’s illustrate with an example — Taylor Swift is estimated to have earned $92 million in 2022, despite being arguably the most popular music artist in the world. However, Swift more than likely earned 9 figures in 2023, thanks to her extremely successful Eras Tour.
The same is true for major sports such as basketball — according to Sportico, Lebron James and Stephen Curry are the only players in the NBA estimated to have made more than $100 million in 2023.
So, it’s not enough to be a world-class musician, actor or athlete to earn 9 figures. To earn that much, you have to be exceptionally successful even when compared to your highly talented peers.
FAQs
Now, let’s quickly tackle some of the most common questions we hear about the usage of the term “9 figures”.
How much is 9 figures in money?
When we use the term “9 figures” to refer to money, we’re talking about the range between $100,000,000 and $999,999,999. You’ll notice that all the numbers in this range have 9 digits, hence the term “9 figures”.
How much is 9 figures a month?
Someone who earns a9figure salary on an annual basis can earn between $8,333,333 and $83,333,333 per month.
How much is 9 figures per hour?
If we assume that a year has 260 work days and each work day consists of 8 hours, someone with a $100,000,000 salary (the lower end of the 9 figure range) would be earning about $48,000 per hour. Meanwhile, at the top of the 9 figure range, someone making $999,999,999 per year would be earning roughly $480,000 per hour.
The bottom line
9 figures refers to the range between $100 million and $999.9 million, which are amounts of money so large that most people cannot relate to them very meaningfully. To illustrate, we should point out that the average American earns between $1.13 and $3.05 million in their entire lifetime.
There are very few people that earn 9 figures on an annual basis, and the term is mostly used to discuss the net worth of wealthy people, the size of investment deals, and other contexts where very large amounts of money are involved.
If you’d like to learn more about colloquial terms that are commonly used in reference to money, check out our article exploring the term “grand”.
