We took this 2.5% national threshold and translated it to metro areas, since many people compare their incomes to others in their region, rather than to the U.S. as a whole. That\u2019s how we calculated the D-FW\u00a0figure.<\/p>\n
Enter your household income in the box below, then scroll further,\u00a0to see how you stack up against different metro areas in Texas\u00a0and the U.S. The income numbers are based on survey data collected in 2024, the most recent available, which we inflation-adjusted to 2026 dollars.<\/p>\n
$93,000 is the median household income in the D-FW Area.<\/p>\n
Household income is earnings from all sources, including wages, investment income, bonuses and benefits for all members of your household.<\/p>\n
Are you \u201crich\u201d in Texas?<\/p>\n
How your income compares to the \u201crich\u201d threshold in selected Texas metro areas. Rows are highlighted if you\u2019ve met the \u201crich\u201d threshold.<\/p>\n
Values shown in 2026\u00a0adjusted dollars. Depending on where you live, you might be closer to \u201crich.\u201d For example, if your household makes $120,000, you would land around the 60th percentile\u00a0of earners in the\u00a0D-FW area, based on census estimates, but you\u2019d be in the 79th\u00a0percentile in El Paso.<\/p>\n Are you \u201crich\u201d in other select U.S. metros?<\/p>\n How your income compares to the \u201crich\u201d threshold in other select areas around the country. Rows are highlighted if you\u2019ve met the \u201crich\u201d threshold.<\/p>\n Values shown in 2026 adjusted dollars. Making\u00a0$528,000\u00a0a year is a level of income most people in D-FW\u00a0could only imagine, with the area\u2019s median household income sitting at roughly\u00a0$93,000. One consolation: Though that median income is about $10,000, or 13%, higher than the national average, the cost of living in D-FW is only about 3% higher than in the rest of the country, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.<\/p>\n It generally takes less to be considered rich in metros where the median household earnings and cost of living are smaller. The threshold in the San Antonio metro area is about $365,000 per year, but it\u2019s over $637,000 in the increasingly expensive Austin area.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the percentile your family\u2019s household income would land in if you lived in different U.S. metros<\/p>\n This rough estimate of relative income isn\u2019t the only way to measure what makes someone rich. Asset wealth also plays a major role.\u00a0Unfortunately, data on household wealth at the local level is relatively limited.<\/p>\n However, we can get a better idea of people\u2019s full assets when we look at the state level. A different census survey found the median net worth of Texans in December 2024 was about $159,000, lower than the U.S. median net worth of about $200,000. That gap reverses toward the top. At the 98th percentile \u2014 where you\u2019d be \u201crich\u201d \u2014 Texans have a net worth of $6.1 million while for all U.S. residents it was $5.8 million.<\/p>\n The perception of personal finances also has a lot to do with what is going on in the world. In September, the University of Michigan\u2019s monthly<\/a>\u00a0consumer sentiment survey found a near 13% decline since September\u00a02025, largely due to widening fears of inflation and high fuel prices. Added costs from tariffs<\/a>\u00a0throughout the year have also led to concern about savings and investments.<\/p>\n This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> FALSE<\/p>\n CreditsLocalization by William Tong. Editing by Laurie Joseph and Dan Kopf\/San Francisco Chronicle. Reporting, data and graphics by Hanna Zakharenko\/San Francisco Chronicle. Production by Mel Fronczek and Alma Lozoya. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How much would you need to earn per year to be rich? By one metric, you\u2019d need about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[102,356,116,118,117,38186,27,58287],"class_list":["post-449307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-dallas","tag-data","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-income","tag-texas","tag-wealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Chart: Hanna Zakharenko\/S.F. Chronicle – Source: U.S. census via IPUMS<\/a><\/p>\n
Chart: Hanna Zakharenko\/S.F. Chronicle – Source: U.S. census via IPUMS<\/a><\/p>\n![\"logo\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/dallasnews-square-black.png\"\/)
Start your day with the latest news and what you need to know across North Texas.<\/p>\n