How the salary is made makes a big difference too.....

Family A may make $70k, have employer provided health and/or dental insurance and a retirement plan with matching funds.

Family B may make $70k through self employment, having to pay the higher self employment taxes (no company contribution), and find/pay for their own private health insurance and come up with their own retirement plans.

In this case, Family A is much better off than Family B, but it "sounds" like Family B is making good money. So many factors other than salary must be considered when looking at what's a good wage, it's a lot more than salary.

Our family is Family B in this scenario, and I have to say we were better off when my dh was teaching at 40K a year, than we are self-employed at 70k a year. At one point, our health insurance was up to $800/month before I was able to find a new policy, and the self-employment taxes are very high (we pay about ~23% federal tax rate). We have to rewrite our health insurance policy every 5 years or so to keep it affordable. This is fine as long as we have no health issues, but as soon as we have any major health problem, we'll no longer be able to rewrite our health insurance (hopefully this won't happen).

It would be neat to have a thread like this for each state so that we could really get a feel for if our family is doing well on what we make per year.
We are a family of 5 and my dh makes $50,000 a year...he works at least 10 hours a day to make that but we also pay over $400 a month for our health insurance. We can barely make ends meet now since the prices are going up so much in our area, I though it was tight before but now it really is. We've had to tap into what little saving we had to pay for necessities like oil for heat.

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WAHM to Richie, Becca & Ryan!

We live in CT, where the cost of living is astronomical! Here, in order to live well (meaning paying all your bills, kids each in one activity, date night for mom and dad once a month, putting something in a savings account, etc.), you have to earn at last $100,000 a year. $125 - $150 is nicer, because it means you might be able to take a family vacation each year and not shop exclusively at clearance and second-hand stores.

We make about $35,000 a year, combined (as we are just starting out) and we do fine. We have gotten really lucky in a few instances that have allowed us to get our finances set up and jump ahead of most people our age (like already owning our home, etc). I know things are going to be changing a lot in the economy and I am nervous/anxious to see what it means because things have been fairly easy thus far. I am so thankful for that.

We make about the same as the median in our county, but it is FAR lower than the state's average. We live in pretty much the worse county in the state, I think. I would say that a good salary in our area would be one that is a little above average, so $50-60,000.

So sad indeed! DH & I make a little over $50,000 (and that's before taxes, of course) and we have four kids. We do okay and our kids have what they need and a little more. Yet we have friends who make close to if not more than $100,000, have only one child and yet they struggle to stay afloat. I'm thankful for what we have and am thrilled that we can provide for our kids without assistance from anywhere and know that with their salary, we'd be set!

ETA: Let me add that one of these works with me and so I know her salary. I also know where her DH works as my DH use to work there so we know about his salary and we do know what his benefits are. So they have no extra ordinary expenses that we don't have. They struggle because they like the best of everything and can't stop from spending and buying what they "want" instead of just buying what they "need."

I do agree that it depends a lot on where you live but also it depends a lot on your lifestyle and what you choose to spend your money on.

with you 100%. We are in the Ft. Lauderdale area and 100K would be living nicely for a whole family, but not rich, no way. We are way below that and struggle a lot to get by. I don't know how people are doing it here on 30K a year for a whole family. I don't know how we used to do it either! But now? NO WAY! We always talk about moving up a bit further north in FL someday, if we could find jobs, because we see the housing listings are so much dramatically cheaper.

my husband makes around 30,000 to 35,000 and we're a single income family... we're making it, but just scraping by at times.....But our cost of living isn't very high

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Mary
mom to Jacob 6 yrs. old (first grader!!)
Nathan 5 yrs. old (registered for kindergarten!!)
wife to Matt for 7 yrs.

i live in nj, and a GOOD salary here is anywhere from 130k per year to about 200k per year.

anything less is just getting by or living like anyone else. i know that sounds like alot, but the property taxes eat this state alive, as well as the car insurance (anywhere from 2k-8k per year) are another big pocket killer.

my mom makes about 104k per year, and i sometimes have to stock her house with groceries, and i am now unemployed!

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mom, wife, doctor, lawyer, veternarian, friend, sibling, CEO, banker, advisor, chauffer, maid, interior decorator, artist, author, social worker, entertainer, video gamer, gymnast, gardener, scientist, genius, psychologist, psychic, sidekick, and superhero...all rolled into one! angel to Gabriel! make a difference in someone's life--adopt a U.S. soldier!

once again a SAHM, but now starting my own home based business! support small, minority, and women's businesses!

God has a plan for me that i am determined to follow through on!

my dh brings in bout $35000 i work 3 nites a week at a pizza place so combined we bring in bout $40000. i was tellin dh this time last year we were lving so comfy this year we r barely making it between bills, food, and gas there isnt anything left! we have house, car payment and schl loan. were near pittsburgh,pa.

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I Too Agree It depends on Where You Live and HOW the Salary Is Made up!!

My Dh Could Be making less than Joe up the Road But < Joe Up the Road could Be Forking out 500.00 a month For Gas and Another 500.00 For a Car payment , Neither Of Which my Dh has.....

Soooo.
In order to Figure out who is Doing Better Those Kinds of things would Have to be Factored In.

in General for IF my Dh were to Make what I Consider - Darn Good Money for Us a Family Of 6 -
His Salary Would Have to Be 150,000- 175,000 With a 100% Car allowance , Cell phone paid for and good Medical Benifits.

I Can't See right now us Making it on any Less than 95,000 a Yr. That would Be the Bottom number I think.

We have a High Mortgage and I always Want Lots to Save.