--- title: This Is the Salary Americans Now Need to Feel Financially Secure description: A recent survey reveals how certain personal and financial challenges impact people's feelings about salary and financial security. authors: - name: Mary Ellen Cagnassola role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/ bio: Mary Ellen (M.E.) Cagnassola is a former reporter at Money, where she covered Social Security, retirement, housing, and employment. Her work reflects her commitment to service and equity in consumer finance. education: Rutgers University, BA Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 205 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true published: '2023-10-13T13:19:23.000Z' modified: '2024-06-03T19:37:41.000Z' section: Career Advice tags: - News word_count: 432 canonical: https://money.com/salary-needed-financial-security/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo-illustration of a pile of money, with people reaching to add more money.](https://img.money.com/2023/10/News-Earn-Financial-Security.jpg) Financial security is subjective and often depends on factors like income and personal goals — but in terms of hard numbers, $75,000 may be a solid starting place. Recent [research](https://www.atticus.com/advice/general/unmasking-financial-struggles-insights-on-diverse-challenges-americans-face) from the law firm Atticus revealed that, on average, Americans say they they need $74,688 a year in order to feel financially secure. That's based on survey results from 1,000 U.S. adults throughout the U.S. quizzed on how various financial and personal challenges impact their financial stability. ## What the data says That $74,688 figure matches up with data from the [U.S. Census Bureau](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html#:~:text=Highlights,and%20Table%20A%2D1\).), which found in 2022 that the median household income in the U.S. was $74,580. But different people have different ideas about financial security. Despite having greater need on paper, for instance, Americans with lower incomes reported needing a significantly lower amount needed to feel financially secure: just $51,728 on average. People with medical conditions said they needed $68,498 on average, and workers with high-risk jobs reported needing $73,409, to feel good about their money. When asked to rate their level of financial security, most low-income people (85%) and respondents with medical conditions (63%) rated their level of security as “low," while 44% of workers with dangerous jobs said the same. Thirty percent of people with medical conditions rated their financial security as “moderate," while only 7% of respondents from that demographic rated it as “high.” ## Why it’s important From the rising cost of housing to growing credit card and auto loan debt, everyday Americans are facing mounting obstacles to financial security. Difficult economic circumstances can make individuals with additional personal or monetary challenges more vulnerable to feeling less financially secure. According to the Atticus survey, these financial struggles can have consequences for people’s mental health. More than half of people (58%) with medical conditions said they face severe mental health effects because of their financial issues. A similar share of low-income respondents and workers with dangerous jobs also reported having mental health struggles due to finances. Americans with medical conditions tend to face significant challenges when it comes to money: A whopping 92% said they face problems because their health gets in the way of their ability to work. This makes it difficult for about 56% of them to save up for things like a home or higher education, and almost half said they struggle to save for emergencies or retirement. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/salary-needed-financial-security/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Career Advice", "item": "https://money.com/career-advice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Salaries and Wages", "item": "https://money.com/salaries-and-wages/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This Is the Salary Americans Now Need to Feel Financially Secure" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/salary-needed-financial-security/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/salary-needed-financial-security/", "name": "This Is the Salary Americans Now Need to Feel Financially Secure", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-10-13T13:19:23.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/salary-needed-financial-security/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/salary-needed-financial-security/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-06-03T19:37:41.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "This Is the Salary Americans Now Need to Feel Financially Secure", "articleSection": "Career Advice", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/10/News-Earn-Financial-Security.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Earn-Financial-Security" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Ellen Cagnassola", "url": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/#author", "description": "Mary Ellen (M.E.) 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