- A six-figure salary used to be considered wealthy—but now, most of these earners are struggling to stay afloat amid raging living costs and salary deflation. That’s because households making $100,000 annually are still considered “middle-class” in every U.S. state, according to a recent analysis of 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data.
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.
According to a recent SmartAsset analysis of 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data, a household making $199,000 a year in Massachusetts and New Jersey would still be considered middle-class.
Even in Mississippi, which has the lowest median middle-class income in the U.S., households would need to earn over $108,000 to be considered well-off.
The salary range of middle-class homes, representing about 52% of American workers, is of course huge. The lowest salary considered to be in the socioeconomic class is $36,132 in one state, while the highest hits a staggering $199,716 in another. But in every single state in America, a $100,000 salary is no longer enough to be considered upper-class—and families with six-figure incomes are even struggling to get by.
Why what’s considered middle-class has changed
A six-figure salary used to rouse images of a high-class lifestyle—luxury cars, sizable houses, and a stacked savings account on the side. But now it’s barely enough for most to survive.
More than half of Americans making over $100,000 annually lived paycheck to paycheck in 2022, 7% more than the previous year, according to a 2023 report from 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 recent data from the Atlanta Fed. This has ruined the prospect of switching companies to make more money in the same role.
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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.
The American Dream of a white picket fence and stocked fridge can no longer be achieved by solely raking in a six-figure salary. While U.S. households could reach the upper-class in states with a lower wage threshold, high-paying job opportunities in those areas can be scant. And across the board, the average middle-class household in every state still doesn’t make $100,000.
Is your household struggling to get by on a six-figure income? Fortune wants to hear from you. Reach out: emma.burleigh@fortune.com
Here’s how much you’ll need to outearn to escape the middle-class in every U.S. state
U.S. states are ordered from the highest to the lowest upper-bound household incomes needed to maintain a middle-class standing.
- 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