Here’s the Minimum Salary Required To Be Considered Upper Class in New York

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Home to roughly 20 million people, New York is the No. 4 most populous state in America. Its sprawling landmass stretches from Canada to the Mid-Atlantic, and hosts some of the country’s most diverse populations and cultures.

According to Data Commons, the median New Yorker earns $42,700 per year. However, its many regional economies are as varied as its citizenry, and come with vastly different concepts of socioeconomic status.

GOBankingRates used data from the Pew Research Center’s Income Calculator to determine the exact salary an individual must earn before taxes to break away from the highest thresholds of the upper-middle class in the Empire State’s eight major metro regions. Included are the percentage of each population that earns enough to be considered upper class, compared to the 19% of the overall U.S. population that falls into that category.

Albany/Schenectady/Troy

• Minimum salary to be upper class: $95,000
• Percentage of population in the upper class: 23.7%

Buffalo/Cheektowaga

• Minimum salary to be upper class: $93,000
• Percentage of population in the upper class: 17.2%

Glen Falls

• Minimum salary to be upper class: $91,000
• Percentage of population in the upper class: 16%

Ithaca 

• Minimum salary to be upper class: $97,000
• Percentage of population in the upper class: $23.1%

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

• Minimum salary to be upper class: $111,000
• Percentage of population in the upper class: 23.6%

Rochester

• Minimum salary to be upper class: $95,000
• Percentage of population in the upper class: 18%

Syracuse 

• Minimum salary to be upper class: $94,000
• Percentage of population in the upper class: 18%

Utica/Rome

• Minimum salary to be upper class: $88,000
• Percentage of population in the upper class: 18%

A Note on New York City

The New York City Metro region includes vast and highly populated swaths of neighboring New Jersey, but that’s not the only factor that skews the perception of what it means to earn an upper-class salary there.

Nowhere in the country is America’s economic disparity more starkly evident than in the Big Apple.

It’s hard to imagine that $111,000 buys you a ticket to the upper class in a city where, according to Apartments.com, the average monthly rent is $4,022 for a minuscule 591-square-foot apartment, but there are other numbers to consider.

According to a 2025 annual report from citizenship by investment firm Henley & Partners, New York is the wealthiest city not just in the country, but in the entire world — home to 384,500 millionaires, 818 centi-millionaires and 66 billionaires. However, it’s also home to the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 7 poorest Congressional districts in America.

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