People making six-figure salaries used to be considered rich—now earning nearly $200,000 a year isn’t even considered upper-class in some U.S. states

https://fortune.com/2025/03/24/us-middle-class-threshold-household-income-six-figures-inflation-salary-deflation/

by lurker_bee

6 comments

  1. I don’t think $200k is upper class in any state. Perhaps upper income, but not upper class.

    Don’t get me wrong, in southern and more rural states you can live comfortably on a $200k salary, but it isn’t rich or wealthy.

    “Upper class” definition: The upper class is a socioeconomic term for a social group with the highest social rank and wealth. They are considered to have a disproportionate amount of wealth and significant political, economic, and financial power. In the United States, the upper class is estimated to be the wealthiest 1% of the population, owning roughly one-third of the country’s wealth.

  3. My wife and I make around $220K a year combined, and we’ve saved up $150K for a down payment. We just welcomed our second child, so we’ve been seriously house hunting—looking for a 3 bed, 2 bath in some nice areas of Wisconsin.

    But here’s the thing… everything in the $550K–$650K range comes with monthly payments (mortgage, insurance, taxes) starting at around $4,100. When you add in our car payments and student loans—though we’re planning to knock most of that out—it still feels tight.

    Honestly, I don’t know how families making less than us are managing right now. The math just doesn’t seem to work. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.

  4. Close to $500k a year in SoCal married with kids and a stay at home mom and I’m just your average Joe down here. You’d be shocked by how many business owners down here bring in double what I do and some much more than that. And I’m talking smaller sized businesses. Then you’ve got your IT C-Suite folks and CEOs and surgeons who own multiple practices making well into 7 figures a year. I feel like rich is at least a $1M a year in income if not more.

  5. Well, we all know it’s better to tax [them] thant to tax say, Musk, Buffet Gates you know…they need it.

    In time $200,000/yr. will be middle class and buy an apt., for your family.

  6. Most people making 6 digits live in expensive cities, not cheap rural areas = making them “not rich” by this traditional thinking.

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