Is $90k a Good Salary in 2024? (How Far Can It Take You?)
It’s so obvious that earning $90,000 USD per year is a pretty good income – but the question is: can you survive on that amount of money? Is US$90k truly a good salary?
If you are searching for the answer, then you’re lucky to have found this post since I’ve broken everything down for you. So let’s get things started!
Now, if you’re earning $90,000 per year here are a few reasons why we say this is a good salary. This is very quick data I want you to know about before we dive deeper.
What Income Percentage Are You As A $90k Earner?
A few years ago, YouGov which is a polling company took a survey, and in this survey – 1,163 Americans were asked how much someone should earn to be considered poor or rich.
And after the survey, 87% of people who were making a minimum of $90k per year said they weren’t rich. However, data shows that people who earn $90,000 per year earn more than a whopping 87% of the U.S. population.
If you’re to use The Wall Streets Journal’s calculator – “What Percent Are You?”, you’d notice that earning $90k per year makes you a 10 percenter overall. And this placed you ahead of 90% of Americans in 2014.
According to Statista, the average individual income in the U.S. for full-time workers was $75,447, with the median household income being $70,784 in the year 2021.
In addition, fast forward to 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics report for the first quarter of 2023 also shows that the weekly median income for full-time workers is $1,100 – which if it remains the same, would be $57,200/year.
Therefore, if you’re a $90k per year earner, everything shows that you’re among the top earners in the U.S.
What Factors Contribute To A Salary Being Considered Good?
There are several factors that will determine whether $90k is a good income for you or not. Don’t get me wrong, $90k is a good income, no doubt about that, but everybody is different so we can’t conclude that it is a good income for everyone. Here are a few factors that contribute to a salary being considered good:
1. Your location
The location you choose is one factor that determines whether a salary can be considered good or not. You may be earning $90,000, but living in an area with high costs of living can significantly diminish the value of that salary, making it less favorable overall.
There are some places where you’ll spend more on transportation, groceries, healthcare, energy consumption, and housing. And for such places, your $90,000 won’t be able to give you the same level of comfort you’d have gotten in places with a lower cost of living.
For example, in one U.S. state, you can pay 200% more for housing than the national average, and in another state, you can pay 20% less for housing than the national average.
Let us compare the cost of living in these two cities – Boise City, ID and New York City, NY to get a clear picture.
Source: Insure.Com
Altogether, the cost of living after tax in Boise City, Idaho is $22,290 – which is 55.42% lower than the cost of living in New York City.
Therefore, if two people are both making $90,000 and one lives in Boise City and the other in New York City, you obviously know the one you’ll live a more comfortable life or have financial stability.
2. Your lifestyle
Have you heard this phrase: “It’s not how much you earn, but how much you keep”?
This statement is frequently attributed to Robert Kiyosaki(the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad), and I find it to be quite accurate.
Earning $90,000 will be a good salary or a bad salary depending on your lifestyle. Do you like to go on a shopping spree every now and then? If yes, then a $90,000 income may not provide sufficient coverage.
You can easily throw $2,500 down the drain in exchange for a designer bag or clothes, or spend just a few bucks at Target for some stylish clothes, and so on.
This isn’t to say that embrace total frugality or always eat beans. You can go shopping once in a while, eat at a fancy restaurant once in a while, but it shouldn’t be all the time.
3. Your family status
Your family status is also a crucial factor that determines whether a $90,000 income will be good or not. If you’re single, then, you can live comfortably off of $90k, but if you have a spouse, children, and other dependents who all depend on the $90,000 – the money will not go very far.
If you want to extend your reading on this, BuzzFeed News did a great job by interviewing 8 different on what it’s like to live on $100,000 a year. Even though that’s not exactly $90,000 it will help you understand better.
4. Your current career status
Your current career status or the stage you have gotten to in your career can also determine whether a $90,000 income a year is good or not. However, even with this factor, every industry is different.
If you’re a fresh college graduate and you’re offered a job that pays $90,000 per year – that’s a very good income.
According to a survey conducted by Clever which is a real estate data company, the average starting salary of college graduates in 2022 was $55,260 across all career fields – and that was the highest ever recorded.
The survey also found out that surprisingly, graduates expected to earn twice that amount in the first year.
Therefore, the survey should say something to you. If you just got into your career, making $90,000 is rare but if you’re lucky to make that, then it is very good.
However, after you’ve worked for about 20 to 30 years, you’ll likely earn more than $90,000 a year. Nevertheless, making $90,000 or more after becoming a senior employee will also depend on your industry.
5. Your financial objectives
Another factor that could contribute to a $90k salary being considered good or not is your financial objectives or goals. I do not know where you have gotten in life and what your financial goals are, but you could have financial goals such as;
- Saving for a down payment or saving to pay off your mortgage.
- Saving for retirement
- Starting an emergency fund
- Paying off your car
- Paying for college education – and so on.
It could even be that you want to travel the world. All these financial objectives require money and for that matter, your $90,000 might not be a good income to cover them all.
6. Taxes
The federal and state taxes you pay can also determine if your $90k income is good or not. Altogether, taxes fall under where you live and that has already been discussed.
The higher the taxes, the higher the cost of living in a place. Therefore, you can choose a state with low taxes in order to be on the positive side.
Here are the top 10 states with the lowest tax burdens
State | Tax Burden % |
Alaska | 5.06 |
Delaware | 6.12 |
New Hampshire | 6.14 |
Tennessee | 6.22 |
Florida | 6.33 |
Wyoming | 6.42 |
South Dakota | 6.69 |
Montana | 6.93 |
Missouri | 7.11 |
Oklahoma | 7.12 |
About eight of these states have no personal income tax, which is good news. However, it’s worth noting that most of these states compensate for the absence of income tax by implementing higher property and sales taxes.
Hence, to determine if your state has a low tax burden, it is more accurate to consider all taxes, rather than solely focusing on income tax.
Is $90k Per Year A Good Salary?
Whether or not $90k is a good salary depends on several factors such as your location, lifestyle, and family status. Even so, making $90k a year places you among the top 10% of earners worldwide.
Now, let us further break down a $90,000 income to see whether it’s good in different situations.
Is $90k A Good Salary For A Single Person?
As a single person, a $90,000 annual salary should be a very good income to live off of. Nevertheless, everybody is different considering several factors like spending habit or lifestyle, taxes, the cost of living in the place one chooses to live, and more.
If these factors don’t favor you, here are a few things to do to keep most of your income:
- Move to a cheap city: Moving to a cheap city means you’ll pay less for housing, energy, taxes, and more.
- Limit your spending: Spend less than you make, and make use of cashback apps like Ibotta, Rakuten, and GetUpside.
- Share your space: You can get a roommate to cut the rent costs.
- Start a side hustle: You can never be financially free until you get multiple income streams. Therefore, start a side hustle! You can walk dogs in your spare time using Rover, rent out your car using HyreCar, or rent out your space using Neighbor.
Is $90k A Good Salary For A Family?
Again, this is also very difficult to answer since there are many variables or factors that determine whether a $90,000 salary is good for a family or not.
Some of the obvious factors are location, gender, lifestyle, as well as the number of kids you have.
A report from the US Department of Agriculture revealed that the average middle-income family spends $12,000 – $14,000 per year on child-related expenses. Moreover, these expenses will surely increase as the child gets into high school, starts using cell phones, etc.
Despite the significant financial pressure that may entail, a $90,000 income is still considered favorable. As of 2022, the average household income was $87,864. So literally, you will be okay with $90k.
There are many affordable states you can move to give your family a comfortable life with such income. Plus, you’d have some child support coming in for the kids. You can even amplify your family income by starting a side business.
Manuelo is an entrepreneur and a personal finance nerd. He is the founder of Dollars And Freedom. An expert in side hustles, online gigs, and everything about making money. His works have been featured on major financial publications, such as Business Insider, GoBankingRates, Investopedia, Entrepreneur, and more. When he’s not busy with his blog or writing for others, you’ll catch him hanging out with loved ones or reading books on stoicism and self-development.
