What Each Generation Believes It Needs to Earn in 2025

The survey identified varying positions between younger millennials, those 25 to 34, and older ones, those 35 to 44. Twenty-nine percent of the younger cohort believe that between $75,000 and $100,000 is the salary needed to live comfortably, but 20% each say that the ideal salary is between $50,000 and $75,000 and between $100,000 and $150,000.

For their part, 31% of older millennials consider a salary between $75,000 and $100,000 enough to live comfortably.

Gen Xers are the generation most likely to believe that earning between $100,000 and $150,000 is necessary for a comfortable life, with 24% selecting that range.

Gen Xers might assume that they need more because they have lived through four major pullbacks during their working careers, including the dot-com crash in the early 2000s and the 2008-09 global financial crisis, according to Roland Chow, partner at Optura Advisors, cited by GoBankingRates.

“If you include the Trump tariff proposals and the uncertainty the markets have experienced from the tariff proposals this year, then it would be five major pullbacks,” Chou said. “There’s no other generation that has lived through literally four to five significant pullbacks and watched their 401(k) swing back and forth in a whiplash fashion.”

Twenty-eight percent of baby boomers 55 to 64 believe that $75,000 to $100,000 is sufficient to live comfortably, and 29% of those 65 and older agree. That said, older boomers were most likely among all respondents to believe that one can live comfortably earning between $50,000 and $75,000, with 24% selecting that salary range.

This could be because boomers have other sources of income outside of their salaries, including stock market investments.

“They experienced two of the greatest boom periods in the stock market in recent history, from 1980 to 2000 and from 2009 to 2021,” Chow said.

In addition, they benefited from a boom in real estate values.

“Their houses and rental properties, which they bought for likely what now seems like a very low price, are all paid off,” he said. “They may even have additional income coming from the rental properties.”

Boomers are also more likely than members of other generations to have pensions, he said.

Who’s Right?

GoBankingRates said that while the generations may have different expectations for the salary needed to live comfortably, most underestimate what it takes, given that the average monthly spend for an American household is roughly $8,500.

“On a per annum basis, that would total about $102,000 — this does include savings at around 10% of the total spend,” Chow said. “To be comfortable, I would say that it would take at least a total gross annual income of $190,000.”

More Generational Perspectives

The survey also asked participants of all ages the minimum salary that they believe would qualify someone for the upper class and the salary needed to afford a home.

The largest proportion of respondents said it is necessary to earn more than $500,000 to be considered upper class. Older millennials and older boomers were the most likely to believe that this is the required threshold.

Americans ages 55 to 64 were most likely to believe that a salary of $200,000 to $250,000 qualifies one for the upper class.

Americans of all ages believe that a salary of $100,000 to $150,000 is needed to buy a home. Among the age groupings, between 20% and 23% cited this salary range.