The US median family income is ~$50k/yr. Most people think that you can spend 4% of capital indefinitely. So to make $50k/yr you need $1.25M. If you have $1.25M in assets you are in the 92nd percentile(1).

So apparently you don't even have to be in the 1% to be in "the owning class" and get by as well as the median American household.

[1] According to http://www.shnugi.com/networth-percentile-calculator/ which I found via a quick Google search. I won't vouch for it's accuracy but I'm guessing it's in the ballpark.