Maybe you live in a house of 5000 square foot in a gated neighborhood. You drive a luxury SUV, vacation somewhere every summer new – maybe Italy, maybe Bora Bora – and wipe your card to Whole Foods without ever checking the total. On paper your life looks rich. But are you?
That’s where things get blurry. Because in the current economy are rich, not only is not about looking at the role – it’s about how your income and capacity against all others are stacked. And depending on where you live and how you built your wealth, you can still fall square in the upper middle class.
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Geography plays a major role in the inflation of lifestyle and how “rich” you feel. In San Francisco an income of $ 300,000 you can buy an apartment with two bedrooms and a decent latte habit. In the midwest it may feel a millionaire.
According to Pew Research, households with a middle incomes between $ 56,600 and $ 169,800 per year, depending on the household size and the local costs of living.
Many sources, including Gobankingrates, place income from the upper middle class somewhere between $ 106,000 and $ 150,000, although that also varies per region.
According to a smartasset research from 2024, the income needed to connect the top 1% of earners in the US is at least $ 787,712. In states such as Connecticut, Massachusetts and California, however, the threshold climbs past $ 1 million a year. In Massachusetts alone, top 1% earners raise at least $ 1.13 million.
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When it comes to the net value, the newest study of the Federal Reserve of consumer finances reports that the average net value for American households is around $ 192,900, while households with an average income usually float around $ 480,000.
For the higher middle class, the estimate varies between $ 500,000 and $ 2 million, depending on age and assets – data quoted by analysts such as Financial Samurai, who gather from Federal Reserve Studies and IRS data.
So what is considered rich? According to the three -year data from the Federal Reserve, the top 10% of households have capital from $ 1.9 million.
The top 1% households exceed $ 13 million.
See also: Nancy Pelosi invested $ 5 million last year in an AI company – Here is how you can invest in multiple pre-ipo AI startups with only $ 1,000.
Being rich is not just about touching a certain number – it’s about how you manage it, grow and what that money actually lets you do.