Originally Posted by
liv2ski
When I was a young man starting out 40 some years ago, my first legit job paid about $22k a year and a nice home could be bought for $90ish and a new VW Rabbit cost me $7k. Both the property and the car sell for about 5 times more now, so a very middle class wage should be about $110k IMO. $200k is not rich, but more comfortable for sure, as in maybe the spouse could stay home with the kids if so desired.
Average price in my hood is a little over $3M now, so with 25% down you still need to make about $500k gross a year to get a home loan. That is well off, but not rich in CA.