Two recent assessments claim that an average American’s income won’t be sufficient to maintain a comfortable standard of life in 2023.
The Census estimates that the average American family makes $71,000 a year. Nevertheless, according to a recent Gallup survey, the average American thinks a family needs at least $85,000 in yearly household income to get by.
The Income Gap
According to a recent survey by the financial technology firm SmartAsset, the average American worker requires $68,499 in after-tax income to live comfortably.
This figure is consistent with that research. The two publications support the same finding: In 2023, many Americans will earn insufficient money to maintain a respectable level of life in their neighborhoods.
After three years of unrelenting economic hardship, American households are now feeling the pinch.
The recent lack of concern about inflation climbed to 5% in 2021 and to 8% in 2022. It is presently 6%, according to federal data for the first quarters of 2022 and 2023.
As a result of rising prices, the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates in an unprecedented series, bringing the benchmark federal funds rate from almost zero to about five percent in little more than a year.
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The Changing Perception Of Financial Stability
All of this occurred in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased the unemployment rate in the country to about 15% during the height of the national lockdown in 2020.
Only 14 percent of respondents said a household could get by on less than $50,000, and even that amount is $20,000 above the federal poverty line for a family of four, which is $30,000.
The April Gallup poll found that 30% of Americans believe a family needs a six-figure income to get by in their community.
In a previous Gallup survey conducted ten years ago, the typical American thought a household could survive on $58,000 annually. That amount was higher than the $52,250 typical household income of the period.
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