'An economic divide that is widening': Almost one third of Americans earning $150,000 a year or more say they're living paycheck to paycheck and many rely on credit cards to close the gap

Other places may have higher cost of living. Hard to tell. But it does sound like a lot of money.

You get used to the money and spend more until you are broke. Maybe it's peer pressure, irresponsibility or a lack of financial education.

I'm a software developer, a couple years outta college. My girlfriend and I are living together, and make about $120k/yr combined. We have no problem, I save a lot of my income and still have a bunch left over for hobbies. She has maybe a couple grand in student debt left and I've never been in debt in my life. I'd be willing to bet that a large portion of the issue is car payments and payments on a house that's fancier than they need.

It's also wild that roughly the same percentage (36%) of people making $50k-$150k are also living paycheck to paycheck. Live within you means. It isn't hard.

I think a more apt question is: what is it about our economic system that creates a situation where the people in the top 25 percentile of earners are incapable of supporting themselves financially?

That said, with a few lifestyle changes, I believe someone making $150k per year could make it work in most, if not all, major US cities. It might be a small one bedroom apartment, and you might need to walk or take a subway to work, but it can probably be done.

I think a lot of people who grew up in the 90s and early 00s working class kind of saw $100k/year something to aspire to (at least where I grew up). Like, if you could make that much, then that would mean you'd be more than set. These days, not so much. It's hard (for me at least) to remember sometimes that it's really not that much money anymore.