What is a good income to survive?
This popular general budgeting rule allocates 50% of annual income to necessities like housing, 30% to discretionary expenses like travel, and the remaining 20% to savings. The median necessary living wage across the entire US is $67,690.
The most expensive and least expensive states vary by more than $66,000. In Hawaii, you need to earn $112,411 to have what GoBankingRates considers a living wage. In Mississippi, you need $45,906. In California, you need to earn $80,013, the study states.
States that require the highest living wage for individuals are Hawaii ($112,411) followed by Massachusetts ($87,909) and then California ($80,013).
Minimum salary needed to be happy: $145,635
California's notoriously high cost of living is on display here, with just over $145,000 a year being needed to secure happiness. While California's staggering 16.3% unemployment rate at the height of the pandemic has come down, 4.1% is still among the highest in the nation.
Generally, $100,000 per year is a good goal for most people.
Of course, this is just a rule of thumb. If you live in a high-cost-of-living area like California or New York, you might need to make more than $100,000 to be comfortable. A lot more! And if you have a lot of debt, you'll need to make more to pay it off.
According to research from MIT, the living wage in the United States was $25.02 per hour ($104,077.70 per year) before taxes per year in 2022 for a family of four (two working adults with two children). That's an increase from $24.16 ($100,498.60 per year) in 2021.
It is indeed possible to live individually on a $100,000 income. At that salary, many individuals will be able to cover not only basic living expenses but also discretionary expenses, like dining out and traveling.
What is a Good Salary in the US? A good salary in the US depends on various factors, but generally, a comfortable standard of living is attainable with an annual income of around $70,000 to $100,000 for a single individual.
One common way to classify the upper middle class is based on income. The upper middle class is often defined as the top 15% to 20% of earners. According to the Social Security Administration's 2022 wage data, the average upper-middle-class income was roughly between $80,000 and $100,000.
Considering the U.S. median wage is around $19/hr or above, but below $20/hr, that should be livable, $17. Millions of American workers manage to live on less.
What is a millennial happy salary?
Millennials said in a survey they needed $525,000 a year to be happy. Here's what a Nobel prize winner's research says about money and happiness. On average, respondents to a new survey said they needed $1.2 million in the bank to be happy. Millennial respondents said happiness would come from a $525,000 annual salary.
Key findings. National average income: The national average U.S. household income in 2022 was $105,555. The median U.S. household income in 2022 was $74,580, which is down 2.2% from 2021 when the median inflation-adjusted household income was $76,330.
Nearly 1 in 3 say a salary between $50,000 and $99,999 would suffice, the survey of over 4,300 adults found. Still, 52% of Americans say they would require at least $100,000 a year to be financially comfortable, with 26% saying they would need a salary in the range of $100,000 to $149,000 per year.
Using those numbers, a middle-class income would be any household that makes approximately $43,350 to $130,000. Put another way, if you're making less than $43,350 in your household, you are probably considered a low-income family. If you're making between $43,350 and $130,000, you're considered middle class.
It's called the 25 times rule, and it's very simple. You multiply your annual spending by 25, and that is the minimum amount of money you would need invested to fund your lifestyle without working.
In many places, $15 per hour wouldn't be a sufficient living wage for a single person. Even without children, living wages in Hawaii and Washington D.C. are $19.43 and $20.49, respectively.
Median salary in the U.S. by age & gender
20 to 24: $706 ($36,712 annually) 25 to 34: $955 ($49,660 annually) 35 to 44: $1,099 ($57,148 annually) 45 to 54: $1,042 ($54,184 annually)
The quick answer to this question is yes—two people can live on $25,000 a year. But it would be very difficult if you had a mortgage, auto loan, credit card debt or student debt. Plus, you would have to live in an area with a low cost of living.
18% of individual Americans make over $100k per year. 34.4% of US households make over $100k per year. 37% of White Households make over $100k, compared to only 22% of Black households. 9% more men earn $100k per year than women in the US.
Based on that figure, an annual income of $500,000 or more would make you rich. The Economic Policy Institute uses a different baseline to determine who constitutes the top 1% and the top 5%. For 2021, you're in the top 1% if you earn $819,324 or more each year. The top 5% of income earners make $335,891 per year.
Is 100k the new middle class?
The bottom line is: $100,000 is on the middle-class spectrum, but barely: 75 percent of U.S. households make less than that. Others prefer to define middle class by the lifestyle you can afford.
| Lower income | Middle income | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 Middle-Class Salary | $38,133 | $57,200 |
An $80,000 annual salary might sound like a decent pile of money — and in fact it's about $10K higher than the national median household income of $70,784. However, a recent Bankrate study found that financial distress can strike even those making $80,000 per year.
| State | Average | Median |
|---|---|---|
| California | $61,290 | $65,895 |
| Colorado | $57,690 | $70,952 |
| Connecticut | $62,350 | $72,497 |
| Delaware | $54,370 | $65,072 |
Schwab's 2022 Modern Wealth Survey, which surveyed 1,000 Americans ages 21 to 75, revealed that it takes a net worth of $2.2 million to be considered wealthy. This $2.2 million figure is, again, highly subjective.
