Not disputing this at all, but I read some stats recently that the average American household income is so offset by the higher earners that the median income is something like 2 or 3 times less than the average. I imagine this cuts both ways. Do you recall if the language used was median or average?
The average is skewed everywhere by the high earners. In Germany if you remove all the millionaires, bankers, executives, industrialists and real estate magnates, you're left with a bunch of underpaid workers (blue and white collar) who will be serfs for life.
I figure this is the case, but with admittedly no stats in front of me I have a suspicion that the skew is worse in the US due a larger population and higher ceiling of the upper class.
Regardless, my skew is apparently more off the mark than I recalled as another poster pointed out.
I have found a source directly comparing US to German middle incomes incase you're interested.
Figure 7 of this publication [1] seems to be relevant to this discussion and shows that the median net worth in all groups in Germany is lower. However it compares USD to EUR.
Some of the other graphs in the publication showing wealth distribution may also be interesting.
You are more than correct if you confused wealth for income. Median is $65k and average is $432. That's actually more than 6 times. Given that the top percentile makes their money through the stock market and real-estate, the income might be less relevant.
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