Here's How Much You Need to Make to Be Considered 'Upper Class' in America's Biggest Cities

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Where in the U.S. a person lives determines how much they must make to be upper class. Here’s the income necessary in 25 of the large metro areas.

Image source: Getty Images

Based on 2021 data, you would need to earn $149,132 or more to be considered upper class in the U.S. While $149,132 might be a good income in a place like Huntsville, Alabama, it does not provide the same standard of living in other major cities.

To make it into the “upper class” bracket, your income must fall in the top 20%. However, the top 20% of income earners in some pockets of the country earn far more than the national average. According to the U.S. Census data, here’s what it takes to be upper class in the 25 most populous U.S. cities.

City Metro area Mean income of the top 20% San Jose, California San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara $500,341 San Francisco, California San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley $442,934 Washington, D.C. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Virginia $353,350 Boston, Massachusetts Boston-Cambridge-Newton 353,292 Seattle, Washington Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue $346,862 New York, NY New York-Newark-Jersey City, New York-New Jersey $340,209 San Diego, California San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad $303,546 Los Angeles, California Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim $302,890 Denver, Colorado Denver-Aurora-Lakewood $292,305 Austin, Texas Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown $288,453 Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore-Columbia-Towson $286,736 Chicago, Illinois Chicago-Naperville-Elgin $279,943 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware $279,362 Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington $275,185 Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh-Cary $273,011 Sacramento, California Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom $271,415 Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta $267,747 Hartford, Connecticut Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown $267,012 Dallas, Texas Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington $265,858 Portland, Oregon Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro $265,594 Nashville, Tennessee Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin $261,974 Houston, Texas Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land $260,958 Miami, Florida Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach $258,049 Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia $253,175 Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler $252,783

Source: Madison Trust Company

Five habits the wealthy share

If you want to join the upper class in your city, consider following these habits of the wealthy.

1. They don’t allow their money to sit around doing nothing

The wealthy do not leave large sums of money sitting in a checking account. Their money needs to be working for them at all times. For the rest of us, that means leaving only the funds we need to pay bills in checking and finding somewhere else our money can grow. That “somewhere else” may be a high-yield savings account or certificate of deposit (CD).

2. They live below their means

Those who rake in the dough are typically less interested in what other people think of their “fabulous” lives and more interested in keeping their eye on the ball. That means always living on far less money than they earn. That way, if things go south for a time, they don’t have to scramble to stay on top of debt payments and other bills.

3. They keep an eye on their personal finances

The wealthy watch the ebb and flow of their monthly budget, monitoring how much money they’re bringing in and how much their bills are for that month. One thing you can do if you feel like you’re financially stuck is to review or rebuild a monthly budget and use it to decide where tweaks can be made to lower your bills and increase your income.

4. They avoid paying interest

Here’s what the wealthy know: It is better to earn interest than to pay interest. That means things like paying your credit card bill off in full each month before the next billing cycle begins. It may mean waiting until interest rates cool to make a major purchase, like a home or vehicle. Finally, the more you can put down on any major purchase, the less interest you’ll end up paying.

5. They make investing a habit

Whether they were born into money or not, the wealthy habitually invest, and the earlier they begin, the more money they end up with. For the average investor, it’s about figuring out an amount we can comfortably afford to invest and sticking with it. Each year, as we can afford a bit more, we add that to our regular investments. Finally, we need to commit for the long term.

The good news is that more than two-thirds of millionaires are self-made. You don’t have to be born wealthy to build wealth.

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Here’s How Much You Need to Make to Be Considered ‘Upper Class’ in America’s Biggest Cities

Five habits the wealthy share