🇺🇸 United States·Household income · middle-class bands·ACS 2024 · by state
Upper Middle Class Income by State (2026)
Nationally, upper-middle class starts at about $126,940 a year for a household: 14/9 of the U.S. median household income of $81,604, up to $163,208. By state, the line runs from $91,975 in Mississippi to $163,066 in Massachusetts. Are you upper-middle class in your state? Type your household income and pick your state.
My household earns $/ YEAR a year in .
In Texas · your household
Upper-middle class
Above the upper-middle line
$5,990 above the $124,010 line
In Texas, upper-middle class starts at $124,010 (the median of $79,721 × 14/9). Upper income begins at $159,442.
The four bands in Texas
Where your income lands on the class ladder.
Every band is anchored to the state median ($79,721). Lower income is below two-thirds of it; the middle class runs to twice it (Pew's middle-income band); upper-middle is the top third of that band; upper income is everything above 2×.
Lower
Middle
Upper-middle
Upper
$53K
$124K
$159K
YOU
Bands: lower below $53,147 · middle to $124,010 · upper-middle to $159,442 · upper above.
Same paycheck, 50 different lines
The upper-middle class line in all 50 states
The line ranges from $91,975 in Mississippi to $163,066 in Massachusetts. Move state and your class can change without your salary moving a dollar. Green means you are at or above that state's upper-middle threshold. At $130,000 a year, a household clears it in 34 of 50 states.
Sort by
State
Upper-middle line
You
Massachusetts
$163,066
No
New Jersey
$162,235
No
Maryland
$160,074
No
Hawaii
$156,714
No
California
$155,787
No
New Hampshire
$155,216
No
Washington
$154,605
No
Colorado
$151,065
No
Utah
$150,357
No
Connecticut
$149,410
No
Alaska
$148,812
No
Virginia
$143,251
No
Delaware
$136,164
No
Minnesota
$135,515
No
New York
$133,498
No
Oregon
$132,564
No
Rhode Island
$129,895
✓ Yes
Illinois
$129,439
✓ Yes
Vermont
$128,691
✓ Yes
Arizona
$126,756
✓ Yes
Idaho
$126,258
✓ Yes
Nevada
$126,208
✓ Yes
Georgia
$124,430
✓ Yes
Texasyour state
$124,010
✓ Yes
North Dakota
$121,133
✓ Yes
Florida
$120,921
✓ Yes
Pennsylvania
$120,626
✓ Yes
Wisconsin
$120,537
✓ Yes
South Dakota
$119,593
✓ Yes
Maine
$118,910
✓ Yes
Nebraska
$118,807
✓ Yes
Wyoming
$117,494
✓ Yes
Kansas
$117,466
✓ Yes
Iowa
$117,446
✓ Yes
Montana
$117,196
✓ Yes
North Carolina
$115,046
✓ Yes
Michigan
$112,605
✓ Yes
South Carolina
$112,544
✓ Yes
Ohio
$112,330
✓ Yes
Tennessee
$111,995
✓ Yes
Indiana
$111,936
✓ Yes
Missouri
$111,361
✓ Yes
New Mexico
$105,492
✓ Yes
Alabama
$103,692
✓ Yes
Oklahoma
$102,897
✓ Yes
Kentucky
$100,374
✓ Yes
Arkansas
$96,609
✓ Yes
Louisiana
$94,867
✓ Yes
West Virginia
$94,575
✓ Yes
Mississippi
$91,975
✓ Yes
Each row's bar runs from 0 to twice that state's median (the upper-income line). The vertical notch is the state's upper-middle line (median × 14/9); the fill is your income.
By household size
Upper middle class income by household size
Larger households earn more, so the same rule gives a higher line when it is applied to the median of each household size. Across all households the line is $126,940; the table applies the rule to each size's own national median.
Household
Median income
Upper-middle starts
1 person
$42,124
$65,526
2 people
$90,465
$140,723
3 people
$107,126
$166,640
4 people
$124,990
$194,429
5 people
$119,003
$185,116
6 people
$118,348
$184,097
7 or more people
$126,072
$196,112
National medians by household size: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 1-year, table B19019. Upper-middle line = median × 14/9. Pew adjusts incomes for household size with its own scale, so its figures differ.
Three numbers worth the asterisk
What the label hides.
The state spread
The upper-middle line in Massachusetts is 1.77× the line in Mississippi.
$163,066 in Massachusetts versus $91,975 in Mississippi. A household at the same paycheck is comfortably upper-middle in one state and merely middle class in the other. The label is a statement about your neighbours, not your purchasing power.
The 14/9 rule
Upper-middle class is a precise fraction, not a vibe.
Pew Research Center's middle-income band runs from 2/3 to 2× the median. Splitting it into thirds puts the upper-middle slice at median × 14/9 and above. Above 2× the median you are upper income, not upper-middle.
Cost of living, unsaid
A class label is not a standard of living.
Because the line is pegged to each state's own median, it captures relative standing, not absolute comfort. A dollar still stretches further in Mississippi than in Massachusetts; the class label says nothing about that. Pair this with a cost-of-living view for the full picture.
Class is relative. Cost of living is not.
The same upper-middle income buys a very different life in San Francisco than in Jackson. See the cost-of-living comparison.
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Frequently asked questions
About $126,940 to $163,208 a year for a household. The U.S. median household income was $81,604 in 2024 (Census ACS), and the upper-middle band runs from 14/9 of the median to twice it. By state, the line starts anywhere from $91,975 in Mississippi to $163,066 in Massachusetts.
About $194,400 a year nationally, applying the same rule to the median income of four-person households ($124,990 in 2024, Census ACS). Four-person households earn more than the typical household, so their line sits well above the all-household figure of $126,940.
The middle class runs from two-thirds to twice the state's median household income, the Pew Research Center's middle-income band. Pew itself does not define an upper-middle tier; following GOBankingRates' state study, this page calls the top third of the band upper-middle class: from the state median × 14/9 up to twice the median. Above twice the median is upper income; below two-thirds is lower income.
Nationally, yes: $150,000 is above the $126,940 line and below the $163,208 upper bound. By state it clears the upper-middle line in 41 of 50 states, and in 15 of them it is already upper income (more than twice the state median).
In most states it is more than that. $200,000 is above twice the national median, so nationally it counts as upper income, and the same holds in 45 states. It is upper-middle in the five states with the highest medians.
Every state median on this page is the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 1-year estimate, as compiled by GOBankingRates in February 2026. These are published, pre-tax, total household income figures — the same numbers used in the Census's official annual state-by-state rankings.
Because the state median does. Massachusetts has the highest state median household income in America ($104,828), so 14/9 of that — the upper-middle class threshold — works out to $163,066. Mississippi, with the lowest state median ($59,127), has an upper-middle class threshold of just $91,975. The class label is a ratio, not a dollar amount.
Gross — pre-tax total household income, which is how the Census reports it. A household earning $150,000 in California doesn't keep $150,000 after federal and state tax; but that's the income figure that feeds the published median and therefore the class thresholds.
Hawaii's median household income ($100,745) is the 4th-highest in the country, so its upper-middle threshold ($156,714) sits at rank 4 too. High cost of living doesn't automatically translate into high incomes — which is why being upper-middle class in Hawaii can still feel tighter than in Massachusetts.
It doesn't. The Pew method uses a pure ratio (2/3 to 2× state median), which partly adjusts for state-level purchasing power but not fully. A $100k household in Jackson, MS genuinely has more discretionary income than a $100k household in San Jose, CA — even though both are classified 'upper-middle' there. For a cleaner cost-of-living comparison, our city cost-of-living tool linked below goes further.
Not legally, no. But the 'upper-middle' / 'middle' / 'lower-middle' framing is how researchers, journalists and policy analysts talk about income brackets — so it's worth knowing where you land. More importantly, the gap to the next tier tells you something concrete: a raise, a job change, or a working partner can often move a household one full class tier. A savings rate can move wealth even faster.
The Census Bureau plans to publish the 2025 American Community Survey 1-year estimates on October 29, 2026. Every state's line on this page will be updated from those figures.