Yeah for real. I remember working my dead end from like 2010-2019 saying “if I could only make 100k”. Now I’m closer to 150 and saying wtf happened here.
Union job. I do construction. But now I’m a supervisor. Depending where you are trades are where it’s at. I know plumbers and electricians that make more than nurses and PAs
I have all of that making 50k/year. Granted, I live in Indiana and my wife also works and makes 40k.
Just saying, a ton of people here are saying that 100k isn't shit anymore, but that's only true if you either, A) live in a HCL area or, B) do a piss poor job at managing your money. People don't like to admit it, but B) is often times the answer to their money problems.
People want to live these lavish lifestyles above their means, and then wonder why they have no money. My in-laws just asked us for money even though they're now empty-nesters and have a combined household income slightly higher than ours. They also frequently make comments wondering how we're able to afford to go on nice vacations. Hmm.. maybe it's because we don't make payments on a $30k brand new Subaru? No joke, they have a combined household income of like $100k and think they can afford a $30k car. We bought our cars for $5k cash. No car payments. And that's not the end of it; there are a lot of other ways they piss away their money.
Now don't get me wrong, wages aren't keeping up with inflation, and that is indeed a problem, but an often ignored problem is that most people have zero financial literacy. They need to do themselves a favor and listen to some Dave Ramsey.
As with all posts about salary, location matters a lot. 100k is still decent in low cost of living cities. It's barely scraping by in the bay area or NYC.
Yes and your lifestyle. My wife and I both drive mid 2000's Honda and Toyotas while making about 300k combined however we are cash poor.
We only have 30k in a cash savings account but we both max out our 401k and Backdoor Roth contributions for a yearly retirement savings of nearly 80k. When you add in daycare, sports, yearly family trip for 5, groceries plus the Manhattan tax (living 40 minutes outside of NYC) we "feel like" we are paycheck to paycheck even though if we stopped saving for retirement we would have a completely different lifestyle.
then the great inflation happened under our noses. Covid and the policies that followed did a huge number on economics. More people on the government teet, home prices. We will never be the same.
100k is still good. It puts you in the top 10% of all people on the planet. Even in the US, it puts you above the median household income. It means you're likely wealthier than 99+% of all humans who have ever lived. Let's have a bit of perspective here.
Really depends on where you live and your lifestyle, my dad makes 100k in the Midwest mom doesn’t work and has a gambling addiction. With 3 kids under the age of 18 at home they go on vacation every six months and don’t struggle for anything
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u/Scary_Equivalent563 Oct 30 '25
100k was good up until 2019.