Key Takeaways
- Americans earning over $100,000 are more likely to trust influencers and buy from them, according to a new survey.
- Some 61% of high earners trust influencers’ product recommendations.
- In contrast, about half of respondents making less than $100,000 trust influencers’ recommendations.
Influencers have a receptive audience: people who are making six-figure incomes.
A September survey of about 2,000 U.S. adults conducted for Business Insider by Morning Consult found that those earning over $100,000 were more likely to trust influencers, shop their recommendations and aspire to join their ranks when compared to those earning less than $100,000.
Further, 61% of high earners making more than $100,000 trusted influencer product recommendations, higher than half of lower-income brackets. They were also more likely to report that their trust in influencers had grown over the past few years.
An influencer’s lifestyle may feel more relatable to six-figure earners
Lifestyle influencer Jen Worman said in an interview with Business Insider that turning followers into shoppers starts with letting them get to know her. Worman has been posting on social media for over 15 years and says sharing her personal life has helped her sell to an audience with an average income she puts at around $100,000.
She said followers are more willing to buy when they see something of themselves in the person recommending a product.
“I do think people who are more able to relate to you are more willing to add to cart,” she said.
For affluent audiences, an influencer’s lifestyle may feel less like familiar territory, not a fantasy. Amanda Acevedo, director of talent at G&B Digital Management, suggested that people with more disposable income may find it easier to identify with the creators they follow.
The connection comes down to if viewers recognize something of their own lives in what they see on-screen.
“The general population online knows creators make good money for themselves,” Acevedo said in an interview with Business Insider. “I think it’s hard if you don’t see yourself in them, or you don’t feel like they’re having the same life experience.”
A creator’s success might attract attention without necessarily building trust. For viewers with tighter budgets making less than $100,000, that lifestyle could feel distant. For higher earners, it may seem more attainable.
“When you are making more money, you don’t view them as out of touch because you can relate to it a bit more — you have more spending power,” Natalie Barbu, founder of social media management platform Rella and a former lifestyle influencer, said in an interview with Business Insider.
The richest creators are pulling further ahead
Brands are spending more, but a small group of top earners is capturing a larger share of those payments.
Data released in January from the influencer-marketing site CreatorIQ shows a widening income gap in the creator economy. The top 10% of creators on CreatorIQ’s platform received 62% of ad payments in 2025, up from 53% in 2023. Similarly, the top 1% received 21% of the total ad payment volume, up from 15% in 2023.
In CreatorIQ’s dataset, average annual earnings per creator rose between 2023 and 2025, while median earnings fell. This indicates that top creators are creating a higher average, while the typical creator is earning less.
Key Takeaways
- Americans earning over $100,000 are more likely to trust influencers and buy from them, according to a new survey.
- Some 61% of high earners trust influencers’ product recommendations.
- In contrast, about half of respondents making less than $100,000 trust influencers’ recommendations.
Influencers have a receptive audience: people who are making six-figure incomes.
A September survey of about 2,000 U.S. adults conducted for Business Insider by Morning Consult found that those earning over $100,000 were more likely to trust influencers, shop their recommendations and aspire to join their ranks when compared to those earning less than $100,000.
Further, 61% of high earners making more than $100,000 trusted influencer product recommendations, higher than half of lower-income brackets. They were also more likely to report that their trust in influencers had grown over the past few years.
