Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

A six-figure salary doesn’t mean what it once did. 

That’s the takeaway from a new Harris poll, which suggests a six-figure income in 2025 equates to survival, but not necessarily to success. 

One in three six-figure earners described themselves in the poll as financially distressed. Two in three said six-figure pay is not a sign of wealth. 

The Harris Poll survey, released Nov. 14, reached 2,109 Americans, including 728 who earn at least $100,000 a year.  

The notion that high-salary workers are struggling rings counter-intuitive. Economic data shows high-income Americans increasingly power the economy, spending freely at a time when less affluent households are pinched. 

The top 10% of earners drive more than 49% of all consumer spending, the highest level in decades of data, according to research by Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. Rising home values and record-breaking stock returns have padded the balance sheets of wealthy Americans. 

“In the aggregate, high-income households are doing great,” said Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “They’re spending. Predominantly, they’re the ones keeping consumer spending afloat.” 

Six-figure earners are living paycheck to paycheck

A $100,000 income should put you firmly in the middle class, given that the median annual pay of America’s full-time workers is around $62,000.  

Middle-class Americans may not be wealthy, but they have come to expect a measure of economic stability. 

Yet, in the Harris survey, many high earners portray themselves living paycheck to paycheck.  

Three-quarters of six-figure earners said they had used a credit card recently because they ran out of cash. More than half of six-figure earners said they would have to double their income to feel financially secure. 

“People used to feel when you got to six figures or above that it was a sign of financial stability,” said Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer and futurist at The Harris Poll. “And now we just see that as a sign of surviving, and being in survival mode.” 

The survey found that high earners were more likely than other consumers to use credit cards when cash runs short. High earners were also more likely to use Buy Now, Pay Later financing to make an everyday purchase. 

Some six-figure earners said they had sold personal items, cut back on medical care and even skipped meals to make ends meet. 

Years of inflation have devalued the $100,000 income

Like the rest of America, high earners are coping with years of cumulative inflation. Prices surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, prices are at least 24% higher than at the start of 2020, according to Bankrate.  

“Even though inflation has gone down, people are still feeling those higher prices,” said Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank. 

Years of inflation have devalued the six-figure income.  

Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank, calculates that a worker would have to earn $170,000 in 2025 to wield the same purchasing power that a $100,000 salary delivered in 2005. 

The value of a six-figure income also depends on where you live.  

A 2025 analysis by LendingTree, the personal finance site, found that a family could earn six figures in many American cities and still feel broke.  

In 25 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas, the report found, average monthly spending on basic expenses would exceed monthly income for a family of three with $100,000 in earnings. 

Six-figure earners “are concentrated in the largest and most expensive metropolitan areas in the United States, where the living costs are higher,” Adams said. 

Thus, some high-income Americans reached by The Harris Poll may be reflecting on the limits of a six-figure salary in New York, Los Angeles or Washington, D.C.  

“Two hundred thousand-dollar living in Manhattan versus $200,000 living in Toledo, Ohio are two different things,” Ajilore said. 

Economic data tells a confusing story

The new Harris poll is titled Income Paradox Survey. The latest raft of economic data, too, gives a somewhat paradoxical account of today’s economy.  

On the one hand, consumer confidence is running low. The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment sank to 53.6 in October, its lowest mark in three years.  

On the other hand, consumer spending continues to rise, federal data shows, and wealthy Americans are driving the increase. 

“Consumers often act differently than they say,” Sweet said. “If you put my feet to the fire, I’m going to watch what consumers do, not what they say.”