How much do you need to be financially secure? Americans now cite a surprisingly high salary

Many people would probably say that they don’t need much to be comfortable. A home, their family and friends, and a stocked pantry would likely do the trick. But they’d also want some money in the bank to feel financially secure, and just how much money, in this day and age, may be surprisingly high.

A new survey from Bankrate finds that the average American believes they need to earn $233,000 per year to feel financially secure, and a whopping $483,000 per year to feel financially free.

That’s roughly three and nine times as much as the average U.S. worker made in 2021 (~$75,000), per Census data. Notably, those figures are significantly higher than the numbers revealed in past surveys. For example, a survey from Personal Capital and Harris Poll published early last year found that Americans needed to earn $128,000 per year to feel like they were in good financial shape.

Sarah Foster, an economic analyst at Bankrate, tells Fast Company that the $233,000 figure was surprising to her, given how much the average American is actually earning.

“It was eye-opening,” she says. “The average salary is three times higher than what they’re already making, and it’s a major six-figure salary—if you were to trace the careers that would offer you that [level of compensation], you’d probably need a C-suite position, or to work in a STEM field, Foster adds.

For context, only about a quarter of Americans work in STEM fields, and roughly 70,000 are business executives.

Overall, Bankrate’s survey finds that only 28% of respondents say that they are “completely financially secure.” That’s also less than the 43% who responded similarly to a survey conducted by Edward Jones earlier this year. In all, the numbers may paint a picture of Americans continuing to lose financial ground as they contend with rising prices and some particularly precarious economic conditions.

In fact, that’s revealed in Bankrate’s data, too. Inflation has shellacked many household budgets over the past couple of years, playing a role in why many of the more than 2,500 survey respondents (63%) say they currently do not feel financially secure. Other reasons include the economic environment (48%), insufficient emergency savings (42%), and rising interest rates (36%). 

But Foster says that inflation is merely an added stressor for many Americans, who were already feeling financially squeezed even before the pandemic. “Long before inflation surged, Americans have been feeling like they’re being priced out of America,” citing huge increases to education costs, home prices, and healthcare, which many, if not most Americans, were struggling to afford. 

But Foster also suggests that focusing on the $233,000 annual salary may not necessarily be helpful to many people. “Even if you make a salary that’s $233,000, it’s not an end-all-be-all situation—it won’t solve all of your financial issues,” she says.

“Someone can be rich but still feel financially burdened . . . it’s just one piece of the puzzle,” Foster says, adding that the best thing most Americans can do is to work within the financial constraints in their specific situations. 

“It’s all about living to work with what you’re given,” she says.