According to new data from polling company YouGov exclusively shared with Yahoo Finance, just 9% of Americans are earning $100,000 or more a year. The survey checked in with more than 2,000 people on their maximum earning potential, also asking how much they currently earned.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median weekly earnings across all ages, races, and both genders was $908 for the most recent quarter of 2019. That translates into just over $47,000 for the year.

Despite having more opportunities to earn a salary of $100,000 or more in their lifetime, a sizable portion of millennials were downbeat about their future earning potential. Over a third said they didn’t believe they would ever achieve a six-figure salary.

Thirty-one percent of both millennials and Gen X-ers didn’t believe they would ever pull in $100,000 or more. Unsurprisingly, the number rose for older generations: 36% of baby boomers were downbeat about a potential six-figure salary.

But despite a gloomy outlook for their own potential earnings, more millennials are earning higher wages than Gen X. A 10th of millennials said they already earn $100,000, compared to 9% of Gen X and 11% of baby boomers – the only income bracket where boomers earn more than millennials.

As the income brackets go higher, so does the proportion of millennials earning more than older generations. Four percent of millennials said they earned $250,000, compared to 3% of Gen X-ers and 1% of boomers. At the $500,000 income level, 3% of millennials said they earned that much, compared with 1% for both Gen X and boomers. And surprisingly, 2% percent of millennials are already millionaires, compared to just 1% of boomers surveyed.

Pay disparities

Though household net worth increased, and the economy has continued to grow over the past decade, it’s clear that not all Americans are equally making those gains. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), wage growth hasn’t bounced back to pre-recession levels, and remains fairly flat. In August, wages grew by 3.2% over the year — below targets of 3.5%-4%. And most of the gains made in the last decade of economic recovery went to the wealthy.

On a national level, the top 1% captured 85% of post-recession income growth from 2009 to 2013, according to an Economic Policy Institute study on income inequality. In some states, they recovered 100% of those gains.

This matches data from Bankrate that shows that nearly a quarter of Americans believe they are financially “worse” now than they were before the Great Recession. That’s just under 50 million Americans. Another 25% said in the June survey that they are doing the “same.” In all, just over half believed their “overall finances” are better than before.