12 U.S. Cities Where the 'New $100K' Is $200K or More

An annual salary of $100,000 might suggest the earner is financially comfortable — it is, after all, more than twice the median individual income for 2021. But if you factor in taxes and cost of living in America's biggest cities, the purchasing power of $100,000 is substantially lower, according to a new report from SmartAsset. To find out how much taxpayers would have to earn to experience the financial comfort implied by $100,000, researchers adjusted that figure for the local cost of living in 76 of the biggest U.S. cities, extracting data for the third quarter of 2022 from the Council for Community and Economic Research. They then used SmartAsset's paycheck calculator to account for federal, state and local taxes based on downtown ZIP codes for each city for a single taxpayer paid an annual salary with no additional withholdings. Finally, they ranked cities from the highest salary range considered middle class — $104,499 to $311,936 in Fremont, California — to the lowest range that would be considered middle class — $23,827 to $71,124 in Cleveland. See the gallery for 15 cities where the "new $100K" is the highest, according to SmartAsset. (Image: Shutterstock)