How does your financial life compare to everyone else's?

It depends on the age and the country, and the gap between median and mean is enormous. In the United States, BLS Current Population Survey data shows median weekly earnings climb from roughly $40,000 a year at age 20 to 24, to about $65,000 at age 35 to 44, peaking near $70,000 at age 45 to 54, then easing slightly toward retirement. The mean sits 30 to 40 percent higher because high earners pull the average up, which is why 'average salary' figures often feel unachievable. By age 30, earning $75,000 puts you above the median for your cohort. By age 40, six figures puts you in roughly the top 25 percent. Industry matters as much as age: tech and finance medians at 35 sit close to general medians at 50, while education and hospitality medians at 50 sit close to general medians at 25. The salary age curve calculator shows your exact percentile by age, and the six figure salary tool contextualises whether $100,000 actually means what you think it does in your city.

The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances 2022 reports a median household net worth of roughly $192,000 across all ages, but the figure is wildly skewed by age. Under 35: around $39,000. Age 35 to 44: $135,000. Age 45 to 54: $247,000. Age 55 to 64: $364,000. Age 65 to 74: $410,000. Mean net worth at every age sits two to four times higher than the median, because billionaires distort the average. The single most important fact about net worth distribution is that it is not normally distributed: it is log-normal at best, and the top 10 percent hold roughly 70 percent of all wealth. That is why a 'good' net worth at 40 might be $250,000 while the average reads $550,000, and why people benchmarking against the mean almost always feel behind. Home equity is the largest single component of household net worth at every age above 35, which means homeowners and renters of identical income often sit decades apart on net worth curves. The net worth by age calculator shows your percentile against your exact cohort, not the inflated mean.

Financial advisors typically suggest 1x your salary saved by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, and 10x by 67 (Fidelity's widely cited benchmark). The reality is far below that. Federal Reserve SCF data shows median retirement account balances of roughly $18,000 for households under 35, $45,000 for ages 35 to 44, $115,000 for ages 45 to 54, and $185,000 for ages 55 to 64. Even at retirement age, the median 401(k) and IRA balance for households 65 to 74 is around $200,000, well below the aspirational 10x figure. This is why Northwestern Mutual surveys repeatedly find a $1 million 'magic number' that most people never reach. The aspirational benchmark and the actual median tell completely different stories, and both are useful: aspirations set targets, medians set context. Liquid emergency savings tell a separate story: roughly 37 percent of US adults cannot cover an unexpected $400 expense from cash, per the Fed's 2023 Economic Well-Being report. The average savings by age tool shows what people in your bracket actually have, not what they are told to have, and the savings calculator projects your trajectory.

In the United States, roughly 18 to 20 percent of individual workers earn $100,000 or more, depending on the year and source. At the household level, the figure is closer to 37 percent because dual-income households are common at this bracket. Pew Research consistently finds that 'upper income' (defined as more than double the median household income) covers about 21 percent of US adults. Geography distorts everything: $100,000 in Mississippi feels like $135,000 in San Francisco purchasing-power terms, while $100,000 in Manhattan feels closer to $50,000. BLS regional price parities confirm a 30 to 40 percent cost-of-living spread across major metros. Inflation has eroded the symbolism too: $100,000 in 2024 dollars has roughly the same purchasing power as $63,000 had in 2000, which is why six figures no longer guarantees the lifestyle it implied a generation ago. The six figure salary tool walks through what $100k actually buys in your city, and the income class calculator applies Pew's definitions to place you in lower, middle, or upper income for your household composition.

The classic guideline is the 30 percent rule: housing costs should not exceed 30 percent of gross income. By that standard, roughly half of American renters are 'cost burdened' (paying more than 30 percent), and about a quarter are 'severely cost burdened' (paying more than 50 percent), per Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. The 30 percent rule was established in 1981, when median rent was $315 a month. It has not aged well. In high-cost metros, paying 35 to 40 percent of gross income on rent is now structurally unavoidable for many median-income households. The more useful comparison is your rent burden against people in your income bracket and city, not against an abstract rule. The rent burden calculator shows your housing cost percentile by income decile, and cost of living by city normalises your spend against BEA Regional Price Parities so you can compare apples to apples across markets.

The average American household with credit card debt carries roughly $7,200 in revolving balances, per Federal Reserve and TransUnion data. The median is closer to $3,000, because a small minority of households carrying very large balances pulls the mean up sharply. About 45 percent of US households carry no credit card debt month to month. Of those who do, two thirds pay it down within a year. Chronic debt, defined as carrying balances for three or more consecutive years, affects roughly 15 percent of cardholders. The numbers that should worry you are not the absolute balance but the utilisation rate (above 30 percent of available credit hurts your credit score) and the proportion of monthly income going to interest. With average APRs above 22 percent in 2024, a $5,000 balance carried for two years costs roughly $1,200 in interest alone, more than most household emergency funds. The credit card debt calculator contextualises your balance against your income bracket, which is the comparison that actually matters.

Per Federal Reserve SCF 2022, the median household net worth for under-35s is around $39,000, but this masks an enormous spread. The 25th percentile sits below $5,000 in liquid assets; the 75th percentile is over $135,000. By age 30 specifically, hitting $100,000 in net worth puts you in roughly the top 25 percent of your cohort, and $250,000 puts you in the top 10 percent. Student debt distorts these figures heavily: 30 percent of millennials and Gen Z carry student loan balances that push their net worth negative on paper, even at high incomes. A 30-year-old with $80,000 in income, $20,000 in retirement savings, $5,000 in cash, and $30,000 in remaining student debt has a net worth around -$5,000 by accounting, but is on a perfectly normal trajectory. The net worth by age calculator handles these nuances and shows your percentile honestly rather than punishing you for carrying productive debt.

Geography matters more than almost any other factor for income context. BLS Occupational Employment Statistics and Census ACS data show median household income ranging from roughly $50,000 in the lowest-cost metros to over $130,000 in San Jose and San Francisco. A $90,000 salary is comfortably top quartile in Cleveland but median in Seattle. The same salary in Manhattan barely covers a one-bedroom and a 401(k) contribution. Pew Research's income class definitions adjust for household size and local cost of living, which is why two households with identical incomes can sit in different classes depending on city. Remote work has muddled this further: high-earning remote workers relocating from coastal metros to lower-cost cities have pushed up local housing costs faster than local wages have risen, creating new affordability pressure for native earners. The income by state and city tool applies Census ACS percentiles for your specific metro, and the cost of living by city tool shows what your nominal salary buys in real purchasing-power terms across markets.