Across the nation’s largest cities, the range is between $51,558 and $154,590, according to SmartAsset. Depending on where you live, that range can vary greatly. Nowhere was the middle class range as drastic as New Jersey, where SmartAsset determined the difference between the lower class and upper class was a whopping $128,468. Your household would need to earn at least $64,224 to be considered middle class in the Garden State, and earning more than $192,692 would put you in the upper class.
In addition to New Jersey, you need an annual household salary of at least $50,000 to be considered middle class in 17 states: Oregon, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, Virginia, Alaska, Connecticut, Utah, Colorado, New Hampshire, Washington, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Maryland.
A person considered middle class in New Jersey could easily rank among the wealthiest in Mississippi, which had the lowest middle class range on SmartAsset’s list. In the Magnolia State, earning between $35,142 and $105,438 would put you in the middle class.
While New Jersey had the highest state-level middle class range, none of its cities ranked among the 10 most expensive cities. Instead, California cities dominated the upper end of the list. It was Sunnyvale, a Bay Area city northwest of San Jose, that has the richest middle class range: you need a household salary of at least $113,176 to be “middle income.” If you have your sights set for upper class status in Sunnyvale, SmartAsset determined you would need a salary of at least $339,562.
In six cities — California’s Sunnyvale, Fremont, San Mateo, and Santa Clara; Bellevue, Washington; and Highlands Ranch, Colorado — you need a household salary of more than $101,000 to be a middle-earner. A six-figure salary would put you among the upper class in the 10 cities on the opposite end of SmartAsset’s list. The most affordable city, the report found, was Detroit, where an annual salary of just $24,300 would make you middle class. Close behind was Cleveland, Ohio, which had a low-end middle class benchmark of $24,898.
Across the 10 cities with the lowest middle class range, a household salary of at least $30,000 would be enough to qualify as a middle income earner.
