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Make $200,000/yr FOX says you're rich

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200k/yr puts you solidly in the top 3% of individual earners in the US.

I would define that both statistically and anecdotally as rich.

200k in a dual income family can be upper middle class depending on the region you live in.

just to clarify, kentucky is not one of those regions.
 
spidey07 said:
I would guess neither. HENRYs normally save/invest a lot to hopefully retire a little early. A good childhood friend of mine did his 20 years on wall street and retired living a great life.

That to me is when one is truly rich. When you can live the life you want and not have to work, where your 300k+ income is just return on your money without really depleting it, then you're rich.
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This. Most poor stupid and lazy don't realize that they're poor stupid and lazy. They think everyone with a job is snorting coke off hookers and laughing at them.
Right now were renting a 2 bedroom apartment (but planning buying soon) while I drive an Acura TL and my wife drives an Accord. Yeah, we're really living a balling lifestyle 🙄

Never said I was having trouble putting food on the table, but when a 40 year old house in a non ghetto is over a million bucks, its tough to really get ahead.
 
Slew Foot said:
This. Most poor stupid and lazy don't realize that they're poor stupid and lazy. They think everyone with a job is snorting coke off hookers and laughing at them.
Right now were renting a 2 bedroom apartment (but planning buying soon) while I drive an Acura TL and my wife drives an Accord. Yeah, we're really living a balling lifestyle 🙄

Never said I was having trouble putting food on the table, but when a 40 year old house in a non ghetto is over a million bucks, its tough to really get ahead.
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Then don't live in one of the most expensive areas of the nation. There are other areas, and they're cheaper. It's not a TRUE cost, just an illusionary price. Most areas a home will cost you $130,000-$250,000...fairly nice places in low crime areas. If you CHOOSE to pay more, it's not cost, it's stupidity.
 
Slew Foot said:
This. Most poor stupid and lazy don't realize that they're poor stupid and lazy. They think everyone with a job is snorting coke off hookers and laughing at them.
Right now were renting a 2 bedroom apartment (but planning buying soon) while I drive an Acura TL and my wife drives an Accord. Yeah, we're really living a balling lifestyle 🙄

Never said I was having trouble putting food on the table, but when a 40 year old house in a non ghetto is over a million bucks, its tough to really get ahead.
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Well move away from Penis land.
 
Rich is when you STOP making $200K/yr and don't even notice. Chances are, if you make that kind of money and lose your job, you'll be as broke as anybody else within a few months. That's not what I would call rich.
 
Fox News, and pretty much every post in this thread, is wrong. $200,000 of earned income per year in absolutely no way makes one rich. Income is a flow of money; rich is an accumulation of wealth.

rich
–adjective
1. having wealth or great possessions

wealth
–noun
1. a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches

Think of yourself as a business, your income is the bottom line of your Statement of Earnings and your wealth (or richness) is the bottom line of your Balance Sheet (Shareholder's Equity). They measure two separate things, one a flow over time and the other a snapshot of an accumulation at a single, specific moment. You cannot refer to anyone as 'rich' or 'poor' by looking at how much they make.

In fact, I would love to illustrate this further by naming off some pretty famous rich people: Scottie Pippen ($120 mil), Evander Holyfield ($250 mil), Deuce McAllister ($70 mil), Sheryl Swoopes ($50 mil), Michael Vick ($130 mil), Mike Tyson ($400 mil). I took the liberty of listing each famous rich person's lifetime earnings after their name. The only problem with my list is that none of them are rich, they're all BROKE. Every single one of them is BANKRUPT. Clearly income is not the same as wealth (which is defined as a measure of being rich).

In fact, most truly rich people in the United States become rich on annual incomes of <$100,000 per year, or less than half of an income defined as "rich". How do they do that? They do that by realizing that being rich and building wealth is not done by playing good offense (having a high income), wealth is built by playing good defense (controlling your spending and saving).
 
Slew Foot said:
This. Most poor stupid and lazy don't realize that they're poor stupid and lazy. They think everyone with a job is snorting coke off hookers and laughing at them.
Right now were renting a 2 bedroom apartment (but planning buying soon) while I drive an Acura TL and my wife drives an Accord. Yeah, we're really living a balling lifestyle 🙄

Never said I was having trouble putting food on the table, but when a 40 year old house in a non ghetto is over a million bucks, its tough to really get ahead.
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As others have said already. You choose to live in a place that has rediculous home prices. I grew up near the San Fran airport but now live in Kansas City. My brother still lives in the city we grew up in. His 2bedroom/1.5 bath/1 garage house was $875k. My 3 bedroom/2.5bath/2car garage was $185k. It is newer with a better school district and way larger. More land as well. He makes more then double my income but i live a far better life style and have more wealth then he does. He is house poor as i think most people who live in that area probably are. While i loved growing up there, i would never live in that part of CA again. It is just way over priced for what you get.

And back onto 200k/year is rich part. It is also relative to where you live as well. Sure 200k/year in CA is not rich, but here in Kansas City it sure is.
 
$200k is rich in the US. It's not millionaire level (which isn't much anymore either), but if you can't make ends meet, be able to take a vacation yearly, have two pretty new cars and a nice house on that you are either living in an area beyond your means or spending beyond it. However, while 200k goes a longer way in some areas it's still not slim pickings in any.

Most that work in Manhattan can't live in Manhattan, I don't know why the silicon valley types think they should be able too.

Also when I have talked to most in depth on this, it's pretty laughable how they say they are struggling. It's usually about larger homes when their current is plenty for the two of them.

The most screwed up are those still living with their parents out there pulling in six figures and crying about income.
 
soulcougher73 said:
As others have said already. You choose to live in a place that has rediculous home prices. I grew up near the San Fran airport but now live in Kansas City. My brother still lives in the city we grew up in. His 2bedroom/1.5 bath/1 garage house was $875k. My 3 bedroom/2.5bath/2car garage was $185k. It is newer with a better school district and way larger. More land as well. He makes more then double my income but i live a far better life style and have more wealth then he does. He is house poor as i think most people who live in that area probably are. While i loved growing up there, i would never live in that part of CA again. It is just way over priced for what you get.

And back onto 200k/year is rich part. It is also relative to where you live as well. Sure 200k/year in CA is not rich, but here in Kansas City it sure is.
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and in Detroit you can pick up that same sized house for the price of a Hyundai.
 
The problem is making a blanket statement and applying it to the whole US of A. In some parts, 200K a year is pretty darn well off...and in some parts...you're just middle class.
 
PricklyPete said:
The problem is making a blanket statement and applying it to the whole US of A. In some parts, 200K a year is pretty darn well off...and in some parts...you're just middle class.
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I'll repeat the statistic someone mentioned above - 200k is the median income in the 10 richest cities in the US.
 
spidey07 said:
Ran the numbers for my state. Take out health/dental/vision insurance, STD/LTD and some for 401k and you're easily under 10k/month.

Monthly Gross Pay
$16,666.67

Federal Withholding
$4,102.98

Social Security
$1,033.33

Medicare
$241.67

Kentucky
$961.12

Net Pay
$10,327.57
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WTF do you do to get $850 a day???
 
DrPizza said:
I'll repeat the statistic someone mentioned above - 200k is the median income in the 10 richest cities in the US.
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Since less than 2% of the population makes 200k or over, that doesn't seem likely. Forbes also disagrees:

http://www.forbes.com/2005/10/27/richest-cities-US-cx_sc_1028home_ls.html

If you look here you'll see that of the 22 'cities' with median income over $200,000, 1 has a population just over 7000, 1 is just over 3000, and all the others are between 15 and 2700 people...TOTAL POPULATION. Those aren't 'cities', they're tax shelters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest-income_places_in_the_United_States
 
senseamp said:
200K is median household income for the 10 richest towns in the US.
http://www.notesbit.com/index.php/w...-10-wealthiest-towns-per-capita-income-basis/
If you are making 200K, you are doing well. Sure you are not CEO or a Wall Street leech rich, but you are doing well for yourself.
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This drives home the point about income vs. wealth. There is no way those people could afford to pay their mortgage based on the income, there must be another wealth source to be able to pay for the priced homes they have. I guess some could have bought when the market was much lower or made good money on their last house. But your average DINK professionals a few years out of college aren't going to be able to live in those neighborhoods just because they pull in a couple hundred K.

Also, I know 200k is in the top 3 percent but if you break it down for dual income households it comes out to be <$50/hr. Good pay, but not out of this world for most with most professional degrees.
 
President considers people making over $200K is rich. Just look at his policies. In many areas if you make over $100K you might be considered rich. There are a lot of cars that are more economical to own than a volt. What about maintainance costs? What do you do when the batteries run out? What will that do to the environment and your pocketbook when the battery runs out? I think the Car company should have to replace the battery. When you buy tires the tire retailer has to dispose of your tires. The big question is what is a 5/10 year old Volt going to be worth?
 
I think the government is stupid. Take small cars for example. If you can make a car without electric drive (Non-Hybrid) get more than 40mpg, then the manufacturer should get a break on all the anti-pollution gear and be exempt from EPA inspections. By removing some of the EPA compliant anti-pollution gear it would probably get 50 MPG.
 
93,000 Houses were foreclosed on during the Month of July???? Does this sound like an improving economy?

Source: Kudlow Report. 1 minute ago. Bring on the Deflation.
 
$200k in this area is nothing. The rich people in this area are those who made it big in their companies due to the dotcom boom or venture capitalists. The VC's rake in millions of dollars a year, throw million dollar 40th birthdays for their spouses, charter private planes to fly 300 miles, etc. That's rich. Seems like the only person thinking $200k a year is rich would be someone who pulls in like $40-60k a year, is single, has no family, or lives out in the middle of nowhere where cost of living is 1/5th that of here. People making $200k gross a year with a family of 4 and a mortgage on a million dollar 2,000 square foot house that's 30 years old and needs work?
 
piasabird said:
93,000 Houses were foreclosed on during the Month of July???? Does this sound like an improving economy?

Source: Kudlow Report. 1 minute ago. Bring on the Deflation.
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What? You don't make $850 a day like Spider and the rest of the silver spooners on here? WTF is the matter with you?
 
piasabird said:
President considers people making over $200K is rich. Just look at his policies. In many areas if you make over $100K you might be considered rich. There are a lot of cars that are more economical to own than a volt. What about maintainance costs? What do you do when the batteries run out? What will that do to the environment and your pocketbook when the battery runs out? I think the Car company should have to replace the battery. When you buy tires the tire retailer has to dispose of your tires. The big question is what is a 5/10 year old Volt going to be worth?
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What's rich to you?
 
thegimp03 said:
$200k in this area is nothing. The rich people in this area are those who made it big in their companies due to the dotcom boom or venture capitalists. The VC's rake in millions of dollars a year, throw million dollar 40th birthdays for their spouses, charter private planes to fly 300 miles, etc. That's rich. Seems like the only person thinking $200k a year is rich would be someone who pulls in like $40-60k a year, is single, has no family, or lives out in the middle of nowhere where cost of living is 1/5th that of here. People making $200k gross a year with a family of 4 and a mortgage on a million dollar 2,000 square foot house that's 30 years old and needs work?
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I live in Palm Beach County. My parent's live within 1/2 mile of a handful of celebrities. If you are making even $100k a year here you are doing a lot better than most.

What to you make in your area?
 
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