--- title: Study Reveals How Much Money You Need to 'Thrive' in Today’s Economy description: Most U.S. families need $96K–$150K to thrive, reveals Urban Institute study on modern financial stability. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 500 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. Her writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2026-03-19T18:43:54.000Z' modified: '2026-03-19T18:43:54.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - News word_count: 488 canonical: https://money.com/six-figure-income-needed/ 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 hands flipping through stacks of cash](https://img.money.com/2026/03/News-Study-How-Much-Thrive-Not-Survive.jpg) Thriving — in this economy? For most families, new research finds, it requires a six-figure income. In order to fully participate in today’s economy and be “primed to thrive,” families need to earn between $96,000 and $150,000 per year, depending on the number and age of the family members living at home. For singles without children, it’s about $64,000. The findings are part of a [study](https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/TCES-2023-report-final.pdf) released Monday by the Urban Institute, an economic policy think tank. The group created a measure to gauge what it costs for families to “thrive, not just survive.” ## Debt holding you back? ### If you owe over $20,000, learn how Freedom Debt Relief can help you reduce or eliminate it. Select your state and act now! [Visit Site](https://money.com/pr/p968da151c7a?ap_referrer=%2Fsix-figure-income-needed%2F) “Conventional economic measures like the poverty rate or unemployment rate don’t really speak to the struggles millions of families are facing,” Mary Cunningham, senior vice president of research at Urban Institute, said during a [webinar about the study](https://www.urban.org/events/updating-true-cost-economic-security-what-it-takes-thrive-us) on Tuesday. To account for this, the study considered a holistic group of factors in its analysis, such as expenses for food, health care, child care, clothing and [saving for retirement](https://money.com/workers-overestimate-retirement-savings/), as well as income from employment, benefits, cash transfers, tax credits and more. The measure was designed to reflect a realistic picture of earnings and expenses for a typical family. Whether Americans meet this new measure of financial stability is a coin toss. The Urban Institute says 49% of Americans earn less than the amount needed for economic security based on their family's composition. By contrast, the latest data from the Census Bureau shows that the typical household earns about $84,000 — far below Urban’s lowest threshold — and only 10.6% meet the [official definition of poverty](https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-287.html). ## Parents are in survival mode The picture is especially bleak for parents. Urban’s findings suggest most families with children are simply treading water. It takes $144,700 for a two-parent family with children to be considered financially stable, but median earnings for those households are $133,400. Overall, 56% of parents don’t meet Urban’s threshold. Single parents are faring much worse. A single parent with one child needs an income of $84,100 to achieve stability, but typical earnings are just $56,700. The gap widens the more children the single parent has. Almost 90% of single parents earn less than Urban’s threshold. The study adds to a swelling body of research about the [financial difficulties of raising children](https://money.com/mortgage-payments-child-care-costs/) in the U.S. In the latest American Family Survey, an [annual study](https://brightspotcdn.byu.edu/ea/ce/3e5b7ea7496eae688d19e1cced34/2025familysurveyfull.pdf) run by Brigham Young University, more than 7 in 10 Americans now say that raising kids is unaffordable, a major jump from 58% the prior year. Of course, affordability is a universal concern right now, not just among parents. “Americans are worried about paying their bills,” Cunningham said. “At best, many are just getting by when they really want to be getting ahead.” ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/25289/medium_2e7b27ce-b30d-40a3-beef-0139ecba6b47.png) If you owe over $20,000 or more, Freedom Debt Relief can help you get back on your feet! [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/u5c2defb44d4?ap_referrer=%2Fsix-figure-income-needed%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/six-figure-income-needed/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Income", "item": "https://money.com/income/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Study Reveals How Much Money You Need to 'Thrive' in Today’s Economy" } ] }, { "@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/six-figure-income-needed/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/six-figure-income-needed/", "name": "Study Reveals How Much Money You Need to 'Thrive' in Today’s Economy", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2026-03-19T18:43:54.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/six-figure-income-needed/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/six-figure-income-needed/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2026-03-19T18:43:54.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Study Reveals How Much Money You Need to 'Thrive' in Today’s Economy", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2026/03/News-Study-How-Much-Thrive-Not-Survive.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Study-How-Much-Thrive-Not-Survive" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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