$100,000 salary not enough to escape lower middle class in parts of California

A $100,000 annual income isn’t enough to break out of the lower middle class ranks in some parts of California, a study found.

The national study by MoneyLion found 12 states, including California, where a $100,000 salary compared to average costs of living lands residents in the lower middle class category.

The report used the Pew Research Center’s definition of the middle class as ranging from two-thirds to double the median household income in each state.

The middle class was then broken into thirds, with the bottom third ranking as lower middle class, the study said.

In California, the median household income is $100,149, measured against an annual cost of living of $81,674. That makes $111,277 the top household income for the lower middle class.

Of course, those median figures don’t account for conditions in each part of the state, such as the expense of living in San Francisco or Los Angeles as opposed to more rural communities.

Other states where the study found $100,000 wasn’t enough to break out of the lower middle class bracket were Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Connecticut, Alaska and Virginia.