Poll: what is "rich" as an income, family of 4

[Kepler]

Don't overthink it. 2 adults in their late 30s, two kids under 18.

 

[Kepler]

What is a "rich" income for a family of 2 adults in their late 30s with 2 kids under 18, no serious medical issues, commensurate wealth, not living in Manhattan or down on the farm.

 

[Jimjamesak]

If you’re making six figures, you’re rich.

 

[Kepler]

If you’re making six figures, you’re rich.

$100k is the 65th percentile for income in the US. Can we say then that your model is thirds: 33% Poor, 34% Middle, 33% Rich? Middle would then be $45k - $99k.

My SWAG would be Middle $60k-$300k, which would translate to 45/50/5.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Do you own a house? Can you afford at least one major out-of-town vacation each year? Do you have a 401k and contribute to it every paycheck?

If you answered yes to the above, congrats you're doing very well, and I don't want to hear any whining from you about taxes.

 

[Kepler]

I don't want to hear anybody whine about taxes either way. Here is my Boomer mentality for what constitutes the classes:

Rich: You have* 2 houses
Middle: You have* one house

* Where "have" means you have a mortgage, so you are the bank's tenant.

Dr. Mrs. & I are rich. We ought to be in Biden's tax hike bracket (although we are not because he has to make it work politically). Yeah, we live in a place with very high COL but it's not as high as SF or NYC and we're doing well enough that when our daughter had an emergency $10k medical expense we just wrote the check without a thought.

I am on the lower end of the family incomes of my undergrad peers, in some cases by lightyears. But that's not because I'm middle, it's because we're all rich. I was very fortunate and Dr. Mrs. worked her as-s off. But we won, so now we should pay through the ears so others can win someday.

 

[unofan]

$300k+ for sure, $250k+ in low cost of living areas. Probably lower dependent on other circumstances like inheritances, employer-provided retirement accounts/pensions, etc.

 

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

"Rich" was the question and is how I responded. To me that means the Monopoly banker caricature, not someone who is simply ahead of the curve. If the measure was "Well Off," I would have responded differently.

For the record, I am well south of where the group average looks like it's going to land so I'm not attempting to skew the results for personal reasons.

 

[busterman62]

I tend to think of "rich" in the same terms as the old joke about what the definition of an alcoholic is.
Alcoholic: Someone who drinks more than you do and is a dick

 

[The Rube]

I make about 45K/year. I'm not rich. Now, if I had a wife (FT worker), but 2 kids? That income has to be quadrupled to be "well off" in my mind. I answered $300K+.

 

[dxmnkd316]

I'd put it somewhere around $250k-$350k in a COL = 100 area. Index as necessary.

Interesting that 200k is top 10%. I expected that to be lower ($200k to be around 15%). Hard to know, again, what happens when you adjust for COL.

 

[Swansong]

Doesn't this 100% depend on cost of living in your community/area?

My girlfriend and I make pretty damn good money between us. Where we live, we can own a large house in a nice part of a small city, and we can afford all kinds of (fancy and expensive) guitars. But move us at our incomes to Manhattan or urban SF and we'd be lucky to have a 2-bedroom apartment.


Income /= wealth.

 

[LynahFan]

I’m one of the cake-eaters who selected $500k, but mostly for the semantics of it. Rich should mean more than merely doing fine or even doing well. More than just rich people should be paying taxes - any family of 4 with more than about $80k of income ought to be giving back.

 

[ericredaxe]

"Rich" was the question and is how I responded. To me that means the Monopoly banker caricature, not someone who is simply ahead of the curve. If the measure was "Well Off," I would have responded differently.

This was the logic I used in answering too.

 

[Swansong]

I’m one of the cake-eaters who selected $500k, but mostly for the semantics of it. Rich should mean more than merely doing fine or even doing well. More than just rich people should be paying taxes - any family of 4 with more than about $80k of income ought to be giving back.

A family of 4 with $80k combined income is below poverty in many cities, and living absolutely just fine in huge parts of the country. All of this is more complicated than setting a single threshold.

 

[dxmnkd316]

A family of 4 with $80k combined income is below poverty in many cities, and living absolutely just fine in huge parts of the country. All of this is more complicated than setting a single threshold.

Correct

 

[The Rube]

Correct

Seconded.