By many measures, the most affluent Americans are thriving. But $250,000 doesn’t mean what they thought it would.

By

Rachel Louise Ensign

Follow

| Photographs by Jessica Ruiz for WSJ

June 29, 2025 at 5:30 am ET

Family enjoying pizza and wine at a winery.

Shafonne and Jimmy Myers have rented a home in Temecula, Calif., since moving there in 2019.

Lauren Fichter and her husband earn about $350,000 a year. The couple own their Reading, Pa., home and a vacation property they rent out on Airbnb. Their three children play club sports, and the family often grabs takeout after games.

But when her son Dalton heads to college next year, he’ll have to tap student loans and hunt for scholarships. The couple haven’t been able to save enough to cover all of their children’s expected college expenses, which often cost around $75,000 a year per student for families at their income level.

“When I was younger, I wouldn’t even fathom making this much money,” said Fichter, 47. But today, “I feel like we’re just the normal, run-of-the-mill, middle-class family.”

Fichter’s family is well into the top tier of earners. So why don’t they feel rich?

American households that make about $250,000 or more are typically considered to be in the top 10% of earners. Many in that bracket realize that the number sounds huge—and by many measures, affluent Americans are indeed thriving. Yet the top-line figures can mask a sense of financial fragility in many high-earning families.

Years of soaring costs for housing, college, insurance and borrowing feel oppressive, even for those with hefty paychecks. They might be sitting on a mountain of home-equity gains, but that doesn’t provide a huge sense of security when companies are getting rid of white-collar workers and it’s the rare employer that offers a guaranteed pension.

It isn’t that families making $250,000 feel poor—many make much more than their parents ever did, or much more than they themselves ever thought they would. It’s just that they don’t feel rich, either.

Fichter went back to work in sales in 2023 after 15 years as a stay-at-home mom so that the family could put away more for college. So far, they haven’t saved as much extra as they hoped.

Even though her area has relatively affordable housing, other costs feel burdensome. Her kids’ sports cost $9,000 a year. The utility bill is $500 a month, up about $200 in the past five years. Her husband tries to do home and car repairs himself but can’t do everything. They put off having their house painted after a quote came in at $10,000.

“A lot of the markers of the American dream are things that higher-income folks are still more equipped to fulfill than lower-income folks,” said Joanne Hsu, director of the closely watched consumer surveys conducted by the University of Michigan. “But houses are expensive and education is expensive.”

Only 26% of people in the top third of earners—households making about $130,000 or more—said in the three months ending in June that they were better off than a year ago, near the lowest level since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, according to the Michigan survey. This group is worried about tariffs and higher costs. They’re also increasingly concerned about losing their jobs.

“Even people who are doing pretty well aren’t maybe as satisfied as we might imagine,” said Matt Killingsworth, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

Killingsworth runs an app that asks tens of thousands of people ongoing questions about their level of happiness. More than a quarter of people whose households earn between $200,000 and $300,000 a year report that they are either “not very satisfied” or “not at all satisfied” with their financial situation, he said.

On paper, these Americans are doing great. Inflation-adjusted incomes of the top 5% rose more than 100% from 1983 to 2019, according to an analysis by Xavier Jaravel, a professor at the London School of Economics.

While the affluent may have sticker shock from higher prices just like other Americans, inflation has actually hit them less hard because of the mix of items that they buy, Jaravel found. The rich spend a bigger share of their disposable income on cars and plane tickets, which have had relatively low inflation over time, and a smaller share on electricity and housing.

This group has also been the main beneficiary of a huge run-up in asset values since the pandemic, even though a lot of the increase is in retirement accounts and home values that they can’t necessarily tap easily. The net worth of the top 20% of earners has risen by more than $35 trillion, or 46%, since the end of 2019, according to Federal Reserve data.

The highest-income Americans continued to spend after the recent run of inflation, even as working-class and middle-class consumers cut back. If they too pull back, it could spell trouble for the economy.

Living alongside the indisputably rich can also skew a merely affluent family’s sense of personal wealth. In the highest-cost parts of the country, a salary that just cracks the top 10% often isn’t enough to buy a home. Those are snatched up by families with IPO windfalls or inheritance money.

Even those spending freely on smaller items sometimes find bigger-ticket expenditures out of reach.

Shafonne and Jimmy Myers buy organic fruits and vegetables, even though the rising grocery bill can be hard to look at. They drive nice cars. But the couple, who earn about $350,000 a year, have rented since moving to Temecula, Calif., in 2019.

Home prices in the picturesque Southern California city are up 57% in the past five years, outpacing the national increase of 45%, according to Redfin.

A family sits on a couch in their living room, laughing.

The Myers family has owned homes in the past, but buying right now would be a stretch.

A woman and child cutting pineapple.

The family buys organic fruits and vegetables, even though the rising grocery bill can be hard to look at.

The Myers family have owned homes in the past and casually browsed local properties. But they’ll likely stick with their rental, said Shafonne, who is 45 and owns a wedding media company. The couple, who have three children, would need a down payment of about $200,000 to buy something comparable to the six-bedroom house they are renting. And with mortgage rates pushing 7%, their monthly payment would likely be far more than their $3,600-a-month rent.

“I would say we’re upper middle class,” said Jimmy, who is 43 and works in logistics. “To be rich in California, you have to earn at least $1 to $2 million.”

On their cul-de-sac, in an area they picked for the schools, only a few neighbors are homeowners with small children. Many are older, with adult kids who live with them. Others are renters like the Myers family.

While 90% of households in the top 10% owned their primary residence in 2022, that is down from more than 94% in 2001, according to the Fed. Many affluent people who locked in low mortgage rates when they bought their homes years ago don’t feel like they can afford to upgrade.

Skyrocketing college costs can also weigh on affluent families. These households often find themselves in a position where they make too much to get any need-based financial aid—but not enough to easily be able to afford college. More than 17% of households in the top 10% had student debt in 2022, compared with less than 11% in 2001, according to the Fed.

Girl jumping on trampoline with pool noodle.

Home prices in Temecula are up 57% in the past five years. The Myers family.

Man standing by a red Tesla in his driveway.

‘I would say we’re upper middle class,’ said Jimmy Myers. ‘To be rich in California, you have to earn at least $1 to $2 million.’

Standards of living have also changed. In upper-middle-class neighborhoods, toddlers take music classes that cost $40 each and teens play pricey sports.

While well-off people are paying more in part because prices are up, part of the increase is likely because they are buying higher-quality homes and getting higher-end child care, said Scott Winship, an economist at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

Matt Dougherty lived in costly Washington, D.C., for much of his 20s. After getting married, he and his wife moved back to his hometown of Wilmington, Del., in search of a place they could afford. They emptied their savings to buy a 1,700-square-foot house in February 2021 with a 3% mortgage rate.

“I feel like I got on the last boat out,” said Dougherty, who is now 32 and works in government affairs. “I couldn’t buy my home today mainly because of the interest rates” and higher prices.

But life in Wilmington hasn’t been as cheap as they expected. The couple bring in about $208,000 a year, which translates to about $11,800 a month in take-home pay. Taken together, the mortgage, groceries, daycare for the baby and 3-year-old, and other recurring costs run $9,000 a month. When the family got saddled with thousands of dollars in medical bills from their daughters’ births, they sold some bitcoin and stocks held in a brokerage account to pay them.

People in his parents’ generation would consider a family earning as much as they do rich, Dougherty said. But he sees it differently. “I had to get there to give my children the upbringing that I had, which was a middle, upper-middle-class, suburban childhood,” he said

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5744328&forum_id=2],#49057753)

LJL they spent that much and the kid didn’t even get a scholarship

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5744328&forum_id=2],#49057826)

It's easy to see how these people, living somewhat basic lives, eat up $150,000.

But how are the poor paying for the $10,000 hospital bill for a birth? Or the $5,000 when an arm breaks? How are they not paying $700 a month on groceries? Are they not paying $1,000 a year for car insurance?

They never really tell that side of the story because I think the people in this article would be furious if they saw it written out.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5744328&forum_id=2],#49058167)

lol, lmao, in fact

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5744328&forum_id=2],#49058677)

Car insurance - lol

Groceries - They buy off-brand food at the off-brand stores. It's pretty bad and they're all fat and groceries still remain a large part of their budgets

School and college - lololololol

Rent - Live next to shit neighbors and shit schools, and rent is cheap, though still a large part of their budgets

Prole scams - maxed credit cards, payday loans, etc., are also a big part of their budgets

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5744328&forum_id=2],#49058776)