DENVER (KDVR) — What do you need to make to feel like you’re actually earning six figures in Denver? A lot, it turns out.
Financial advisor SmartAsset analyzed economic data from 76 U.S. cities to find which required the most income to actually maintain $100,000 of spending power after taxes and local cost of living are accounted for.
Denver ranks 22nd-highest for the income needed, though its relatively low tax rate compared to other high-cost cities saves it from being higher on the list.
It takes $162,700 in yearly income to feel like a Denver household is actually making six figures. Aurora ranks directly after Denver with $162,500 needed. Colorado Springs is slightly lower in cost of living, so households need $155,500 to approximate a six-figure income.
The highest on the list are Honolulu, Hawaii; New York City and San Francisco. In each of these cities, it takes over $300,000 a year to achieve $100,000 in spending power.
It’s much easier to live large with less in southern cities. Memphis, Tennessee; El Paso, Texas; Oklahoma City, Corpus Christi, Texas; Lubbock, Texas and Houston have the lowest thresholds for feeling a six-figure income in real spending power. An income of $125,000 in Houston generates the same spending power as $312,000 in New York City.
Predictably, the amount needed to have six figures of spending power rises with a city’s cost of living.
The three cities with the highest incomes also have the highest costs of living. Conversely, each of the cities with the lowest incomes has the lowest cost of living.
