12 Money Signs That Mean You're In The Upper Class

A May 2024 Gallup Poll found that only 2% of Americans claimed to be upper middle class, while the number of Americans classifying themselves as upper middle class and middle class dropped from 61% in 2002 to 54% by 2024. As per the Pew Research Center, 17% of the U.S. population classified as upper income in 2022 — based on household income and adjusted for locale and the size of the household — and by 2023, the Pew Research Center estimates the actual percentage of upper class Americans to have risen closer to 19%. Although more people are entering the the upper class, there's an obvious discrepancy between what people believe is the 'upper class' and what actually places you close to the top percentile of earners. However, aside from just knowing the net worth number that should place you in the upper class, there are a few telling signs that you've made it.

The upper class in the U.S. held 48% of total household income in 2022, with Millennials and Gen Xers representing the largest percentage at 18% and 24% respectively. In 2022, the annual income tier for a three person, upper income household was $256,920, with the net worth for the top 10% of the population, as per an October 2023 release by The Federal Reserve, sitting at $6,629,600. But as parameters for polls and surveys prove, numbers can be subjective. 

A survey conducted by Empower found that 45% of Americans believe that a financial plan is a surefire way to success, with 30% pointing to retirement savings and 27% saying a stock portfolio are necessities to making it. Overall, smart investment decisions — like taking advantage of compound interest investments and savings strategies that can propel your net worth — were considered equally important to attaining success by 46% of people surveyed. The most important factor to success however, beyond financial instruments, was the ability to not spend more than you earn, according to 52% of Americans.

This is why numbers are subjective when discussing economic class — your specific cost of living versus what you actually earn is a big determiner of where you stand, with more expensive housing, higher taxes, and college tuition for your kids impacting how much money you have left. Not having an understanding of this is why so many high income earners are living paycheck to paycheck today. Although a large percentage of Americans view investments and savings as a boon to net worth, the upper class still have enough money left over after maxing out retirement savings and building stock portfolios. If you can afford great healthcare, higher education, housing, an active social life, and still manage all your financial obligations — including investments, savings, and debts — while still having disposable income, there's a good chance you are part of the upper class.  

If you have a financial advisor worth their fee, they would have likely given you the advice to diversify your investment portfolio. The importance of diversification can't be overstated according to Ramsey Solutions National Study of Millionaires, which found that 80% of millionaires surveyed invested in their company's 401(k) plan, and noted that it was a factor in their financial success. Also, 75% of millionaires held investments in more than single stocks, playing the long game with consistency while exercising patience and caution over a period of time. Diversification is just one of the secrets the wealthy use to grow and protect their fortunes, but if you're in the upper class, you already know that.

A diversified portfolio holds stocks representing a vast array of industries — think tech, healthcare, infrastructure, and more — with a goal of attaining a variety of small and large-cap companies, growth and value stocks, and stocks that pay dividends. With the latter, some people are so good at investing in dividends that they've actually learned how to live off investment dividend income. Aside from stocks, assets like bonds, real estate or REITs, and currencies like gold and crypto, also allow you to explore diversification. Diversification does more than cover the spread. It protects your assets in the case of a market downturn, especially in the case of specific industries, by not laying all your eggs in the same basket. Be aware, however, of the dangers of too much diversification. 

In a statement to Newsweek, a Sotheby's International realtor made the point that homeownership has become so aspirational in the last five years — thanks to speculative real estate investment and the lack of housing options for Millennials and Gen Zers — that it's now viewed as an "upper class achievement" by younger middle income generations. It doesn't help that the Boomers and Gen Xers who own property don't seem to be in any hurry to vacate them, leading to lower housing inventory. A study of the 2025 housing market, courtesy of JP Morgan, mentions how the basic rule of supply and demand applies to housing. The rarity of the product raises the value of that product, and therefore, makes it more expensive to acquire. The study estimates that housing prices will continue to rise by 3% over 2025, and that higher interest rates will stick around and only lower slightly to around 6.7% by the end of the year.

Homeownership, particularly in a desirable neighborhood, is an indication of stability, access to good employment, education, and healthcare, and ultimately, wealth. It's more than about covering the basic need of shelter, since paying a mortgage is a form of forced investing where you pay down debt and accrue interest in your investment.

The Empower study found that 30% of Americans surveyed believed income instability was a major barrier to experiencing financial success. In addition, 63% of people surveyed viewed the ability to pay bills on time as a sign of financial success. Although 45% of those surveyed noted that having a financial plan is a sign of financial success, according to a 2024 study of Modern Wealth by Charles Schwab, a mere 36% of Americans have a financial plan on paper. Unsurprisingly, 75% of the people in that latter group say a plan provides them with a sense of security in their financial situation.

If you can keep up with your living expenses and bills, and don't stay up nights wondering how you're going to pay something, it's a good sign that you've made it into the upper class. The onset of a financial emergency shouldn't be a crisis moment for you, as you should have the benefit of not living paycheck to paycheck which allows you to have investments and savings. Even if you aren't in the upper class now, knowing how much money you should have in your emergency fund with a goal of having one is a good first budgeting step to getting there. 

According to Benzinga, people living in the upper classes — the top 20% — have their financial retirement situation figured out. They don't need to spend a lot of time with regrets over missing the age at which you should start saving for retirement since they tend to be well ahead of the curve. The median retirement savings estimate for the upper class falls between the range of $400,000 to $500,000, which, compared to the median for all U.S. households of $87,000, is a fairly good indication of a relatively optimal retirement situation. Of course, this is just a median estimate. When placed alongside the Federal Reserve data showing the top 20% of earners having a net worth of $6,629,600, adding up investments and assets like housing makes it more likely that most of the upper class have much more access to an early and well funded retirement than the middle or lower classes of Americans.

An upper-income household earning an average $256,920, has more capital to deploy. That means access to good financial advice, more money for savings and investments, and the ability to be consistent in the implementation of their strategy. There are acceptable reasons why you may think about delaying your retirement, but being financially unprepared for retirement isn't one you, nor anyone in the upper class, can afford. 

Another sign of being in the upper class is the ability to make money from multiple sources. The upper class has learned ways of making passive income that are even better than real estate. That said, real estate can be a factor since rental income, property values that rise with inflation, and appreciation over time are all benefits that allow upper class landlords to make money in their sleep. They don't get locked in single income streams through employment, which can change with economic downturns, lay-offs, or sudden financial emergencies.

Earning money from different sources is a hedge against the unexpected, and after mastering one skill, it's important to make time to explore and master other streams of income. Aside from real estate, you can explore other interests like podcasting, events, professional speaking, or blogging. The key is it must generate income. That means researching what it will cost you initially, scheduling, and recognizing how much of these different streams you can manage on your own optimally. The most common forms of multiple streams of income for the upper class are money from royalties, capital gains, rental income, employment income, dividends, compound interest, and side gigs. 

Financially speaking, the hardest net worth number for most people to reach is also a significant indicator of your ability to become one of the upper class. One of the most obvious ways to do that is to ensure you earn more income every year, and do so consistently. Another thing data has shown is that the middle class have lost ground every decade from the 1970s onward. In 1970, the middle class controlled 62% of total U.S. household income. By 2022, that had fallen to 43%. Meanwhile, the share of total U.S. household income for the upper class rose consistently from 29% in 1970, to 48% by 2022. The principle of making more money every year is demonstrated by a reality where the middle class claims less of the economic pie even as the upper class claims more in the same period. According to The Federal Reserve, the top 20% of income earners accounted for $8.9 trillion of total household income in 1989. By the fourth quarter of 2024, that was $75.9 trillion.

Much like the performance standard for a company, a year-over-year assessment of your personal financial performance allows for you to see if things are getting better or worse, and whether you need to change something to have a better outcome next quarter. Rising income lets you know that you're on the right track toward the upper class, and is an indicator that your income isn't static. 

The upper class enjoy a different travel lifestyle from those earning less — at least, some of the time. According to the United States Census Bureau, the median household income in 2024 was $80,610 in 2023. With the annual income tier for the average three person upper income household being $256,920, this definitely qualifies as being 200% of the median income. When you consider that at least 15% of upper income flyers still don't fly first class, it demonstrates that even for some members of the upper class, first class travel isn't a given every time.

Upper income travelers enjoy recreational vacations, with 22% booking a first-class vacation four times per year. They don't spend time worrying about the cost of their vacations, which means more expensive locations like California, Hawaii, and the Maldives end up on their radar more frequently than Florida or Mexico. 

According to the Education Data Initiative, the average federal student loan debt balance is $38,375 and the total average student loan debt — which includes private loans — is around $41,618. In the fourth financial quarter of 2024, 4.9% of student loans were in default on over $1.7 trillion worth of student loan debt, with national student loan debt rising close to 2.8% year-over-year also in the fourth quarter of 2024.

If you aren't concerned about student loan debt, either for you or for your kids, you are very likely in the upper class. However, where upper class people go to school could be as surprising as the fact that there are many millionaires who made their fortunes without graduating from high school. While you would be forgiven for assuming everyone with an upper income graduated from Yale or Harvard, in reality according to Ramsey Solutions millionaire study, 62% of millionaires actually graduated from public state schools, not private colleges. In fact, a meagre 8% of millionaires graduated from respected private schools. Still, education was a huge factor in many millionaires' success, with 88% of them attending and graduating from college and over half of them graduating with masters or doctorates — just not debt. 

There is a lingering threat of essential healthcare that will be out of reach for seniors in the next decade, and according to Fidelity Investments 2024 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate, 50% of Americans approaching retirement are unsure of how to select their Medicare coverage. That's especially scary since the average 65 year old American retiring today can expect to spend $165,000 on healthcare alone over the course of their retirement. Even for younger demographics, the cost of quality healthcare can be a barrier to the sort of financial success that leads to upper class prosperity.

A 2024 Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker study found that 41% of adults have health care debt. That's 20 million Americans owing a total of $220 billion in medical debt. Low and middle income households were more likely to hold some level of medical debt, with people at the highest end of the income level also showing a corresponding level of excellent health since healthcare in the U.S. is so tied to your ability to pay for it. Making things worse is Republicans angling to cut Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). A 2020 RAND study found that the highest-income Americans pay 16% of their income to healthcare versus almost 33.9% of middle income earners. So if you have excellent access to healthcare, no debts or worries over future healthcare costs, that's a pretty good indicator you've made it to the upper class. 

The Tax Foundation argues that higher net worth individuals pay more in taxes than middle income earners based on wealth rather than income. The top 10% with an average income of $273,000 and a net worth of $3.8 million in 2019 had an effective tax rate of 35%, which included federal, state, local, and foreign taxes, while middle and lower income taxpayers had an effective tax rate of 29%.

However, upper class households have figured out how to avoid paying taxes without breaking the law. According to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, methods like the 'buy, borrow, and die strategy' allow them to purchase tangible and intangible appreciative assets, take out credit on the rising value of those assets without selling them, and finally gift them on to an heir after they pass on. It's one example of a legal way to avoid, or at least defer, paying taxes, since there's no tax on the appreciative value of the assets nor do federal tax laws support applying capital gains taxes to the assets after they have been passed to an heir. The upper class also have the inside track on the best places to put high-tax income to save money, and take advantage of tax loopholes like deductions from depreciative assets, gifts and donations, or changing locations — moving to Puerto Rico for example, allows you to retain your U.S. citizenship while bypassing U.S. federal income tax on capital gains. 

Time is a priceless commodity, and a 2020 paper by The Brookings Institution found that factors like increased hours of work — dual parent working households averaging an extra combined 3,446 hours of work per year — no minimum vacation requirements, the cost of childcare, and the general rising cost of living as contributing to the phenomenon of middle class time squeeze.

As per Harmony Healthcare IT, Americans are spending, on average, five hours and six minutes a day on their phones — 69% of Gen Zers admit to being addicts. Referencing the aforementioned middle income time squeeze again, 60% of those surveyed use their phones at work. Meanwhile, the upper class regularly employ The five-hour rule used by many of the world's most successful people, which relies heavily on having time. This demonstrates how having money makes it easier to make more. While the middle class are looking into how to make more money with the spare time they have, the upper class are busy exploring what makes them happy in their off time. An income that already works in their favor allows the upper class to lean into hobbies, travel, social time, and personal improvement.