People making $100k+ say they do not feel high income anymore — which expense actually broke the illusion?
The Dollar General CEO quote is going around — shoppers earning $100k do not feel high-income anymore — and search interest on it is spiking. I am curious about the mechanics. For households in the $100-150k range: which single expense category (housing, childcare, insurance, groceries) actually ate the gains over the last 3-4 years? If you track your spending, what do the numbers say — is it one line item, or death by a thousand cuts?
1 answer
- Housing ate it, everything else is noise
Run the math on your own budget and it is almost always housing. A $100k household in 2019 spending 28% on housing felt fine; the same household now at 38-40% feels broke, and no amount of cheaper groceries fixes a $700/month rent hike. Pull your 2019 vs 2025 housing cost as a share of take-home pay — that one line explains the whole illusion for most people I know.