What is considered a "high income" for a family in Northern VA? (Hampton: middle-class, how much)

[mojo_1979]

I would love to hear from various people as to what is considered a high income or upper middle class income for a family in Nova.

[Tone509]

It might depend on the number of children and cars in one's family... but assuming the usual "2.3 kids" and two cars, my opinion would be perhaps $200K. If there were no kids in the picture, perhaps that might drop down to $150K for a household. I don't claim to be "right" though so I'd be interested in seeing other opinions.

[PossibleMoveToCincyArea]

The median household income for Fairfax County is just over 100K. I would put high-income in the over 300-400K range.

[goozer]

Originally Posted by PossibleMoveToCincyArea

The median household income for Fairfax County is just over 100K. I would put high-income in the over 300-400K range.

I was just gonna mention that too -- as of last week (per a Forbes poll), Fairfax county has the highest median household income of any county in the entire United States of America (I think it's actually something like 102k). Obviously, the word "high" is pretty subjective. I suppose if the median is $100k, double that would be considered "high." But if the question is really how much income does a family need to be considered "rich" (an equally subjective but more tangible adjective), I would say it is in the $500k to $1 million range. And I'm not talking mega-rich here...I'm talking modest, good-old-fashioned, 4-bedroom house and a small vacation home, upper middle-class rich.

[McScootch]

I think that a 4 to 600K annual salary would classify you as rich in FFX. That is, of course, only if you do not have to pay 50k a month in alimony and child supprt.

[claremarie]

But if the question is really how much income does a family need to be considered "rich" (an equally subjective but more tangible adjective), I would say it is in the $500k to $1 million range. And I'm not talking mega-rich here...I'm talking modest, good-old-fashioned, 4-bedroom house and a small vacation home, upper middle-class rich.

It's not quite that bad. You can buy a four bedroom home, even in McLean, for under $1 million, and you certainly don't need an income anywhere close to $500K to afford it. "Rich" is a 6000 square foot home with a pool and tennis court, three European vehicles, a beach house, and private schools. And it still doesn't take an income of $500K. $300K and up is more like it, depending upon when you where you are in the lifecycle..

[Fairfax Mom]

from my perspective - I consider 200k a year to be upper middle class - something I wish I was! LOL!

I am not really sure how much the rich need to survive here.

[saganista]

I'd also say that somewhere around $250K might stand as entry-level rich. But it's also the case that many hereabouts who are rather easily millionaires in terms of net worth don't have incomes that are in that range at all. Dual-income couples who have put together two moderately successful careers and who don't have aspirations toward an ostentatious lifestyle are all over the place, and large numbers of them either already are or one day will be millionaires. That lady packing groceries into the back of her 1998 Toyota may have a portfolio that makes yours look like peanuts...

[normie]

Originally Posted by saganista

That lady packing groceries into the back of her 1998 Toyota may have a portfolio that makes yours look like peanuts...

This is especially true the farther west you go in Virginia. There is a lot of serious money in Loudoun County, but not all the bling that you find in some parts of the world. Your neighbor will be out mowing her own lawn in a pair of jeans she bought at Kohl's... guess what, the odds are she owns beach property in the west coast and the Hamptons, and has a fortune stashed away in a mutual fund.

[stacylee926]

I just dont think that a 250K income is rich in Fx County. Most of the people in that income bracket have the nicer cars, homes etc - all of which takes alot of that money to maintain. Those people are probably classified as 'well off', but rich usually means lots of money coming in and some of that being put into investments etc. You cannot be rich if your lifestyle consumes all your income on a monthly basis.

Rich to me means you have money in the bank that is not used for living expenses.