How much money you need to make to be “rolling in it” has changed: Earning nearly $200,000 a year isn’t even considered upper-class in some U.S. States. Being considered rich is becoming more gate-kept among the 1% raking in millions every day.
TL;DR
- Earning $200,000 annually is not considered upper-class in some U.S. states, like Massachusetts and New Jersey.
- Six-figure incomes are no longer sufficient for many to live comfortably due to inflation and rising expenses.
- Over 50% of U.S. individuals earning over $100,000 lived paycheck to paycheck in 2022.
- Wage deflation and soaring costs for essentials like food and housing contribute to financial struggles.
Based on U.S. Census Bureau figures from August SmartAsset analysis of 2023, a family earning $199,000 annually in Massachusetts and New Jersey would still be classified as middle-income.
Even in Mississippi, a state with the nation's lowest median income for the middle class, families would require earnings exceeding $108,000 to be classified as affluent.
The income bracket for middle-class residences, encompassing approximately 52% of the U.S. Workforce, is naturally vast. The minimum income classified within this socioeconomic tier is $36,132 in a particular state, whereas the maximum reaches an astonishing $199,716 in a different one. However, in every U.S. State, an income of $100,000 is insufficient to be deemed upper-class, and households earning six-figure salaries are finding it difficult to manage.
The definition of what constitutes the middle class has undergone a transformation.
Earning a six-figure income once conjured visions of an opulent existence—fancy automobiles, substantial residences, and a robust savings reserve. However, currently, it's hardly sufficient for the majority to get by.
In 2022, over fifty percent of U.S. Individuals earning more than $100,000 per year were living from one payday to the next, an increase of 7% compared to the year before, as indicated by a 2023 report published by PYMNTS and LendingClub.
There are a few reasons why more six-figure earners are struggling to keep their heads above water: The SmartAsset report points to raging inflation and shifting salaries across the U.S. Some workers have been hit with wage deflation. Employees who stayed in their current roles received a 4.6% wage bump in January and February, while those who switched jobs received only a marginally higher increase of 4.8%, according to data from the Atlanta Fed released in March. This has ruined the prospect of switching companies to make more money in the same role.
Inflation has also increased living expenses across the board, from egg prices shooting up over 60% in the last year to a housing market paralyzed by soaring costs. It’s assumed that a middle-class lifestyle could at least keep up with the basics, but 65% of those households say their incomes were falling behind the cost of living, according to a 2024 survey from financial services company Primerica.
Attaining the idealized American lifestyle, complete with a white picket fence and a well-stocked refrigerator, is no longer solely within reach by earning a six-figure income. Although U.S. Families might ascend to the upper-class in regions with a less demanding salary requirement, lucrative employment prospects in those locales are often scarce. Furthermore, on a nationwide scale, the typical middle-class family in every state still falls short of earning $100,000 annually.
Here's the income required to move beyond the middle-class in each U.S. State
The United States' states are ranked based on the highest to lowest ceiling for household earnings required to preserve a middle-class status.
- Massachusetts: $199,716
- New Jersey: $199,562
- Maryland: $197,356
- New Hampshire: $193,676
- California: $191,042
- Hawaii: $190,644
- Washington: $189,210
- Utah: $186,842
- Colorado: $185,822
- Connecticut: $183,330
- Virginia: $179,862
- Alaska: $173,262
- Minnesota: $170,172
- Rhode Island: $169,944
- New York: $164,190
- Delaware: $162,722
- Vermont: $162,422
- Illinois: $160,612
- Oregon: $160,320
- Arizona: $154,630
- North Dakota: $153,050
- Nevada: $152,728
- Texas: $151,560
- Idaho: $149,884
- Georgia: $149,264
- Wisconsin: $149,262
- Nebraska: $149,180
- Pennsylvania: $147,648
- Maine: $147,466
- Florida: $146,622
- Wyoming: $144,830
- South Dakota: $143,620
- Iowa: $142,866
- Montana: $141,608
- North Carolina: $141,608
- Kansas: $140,666
- Indiana: $138,954
- Michigan: $138,366
- Missouri $137,090
- South Carolina: $135,608
- Ohio: $135,538
- Tennessee: $135,262
- New Mexico: $124,536
- Alabama: $124,424
- Oklahoma: $124,276
- Kentucky: $122,236
- Arkansas: $117,400
- Louisiana: $116,458
- West Virginia: $111,896
- Mississippi: $108,406
A version of this story originally published on Coins2Day.com on March 24, 2025.