MIDDLE: What does it take to be middle class? In Cleveland, it takes a household income of about $29,000. However, in San Jose, Calif., it takes about $70k more than that to make the threshold.

SmartAsset’s annual study, “What It Takes to Be Middle Class in America,” ranked all 50 states — plus 100 of the largest cities — to identify the income bounds needed to fall into the middle class. https://smartasset.com/data-studies/middle-class-2026

It’s eye opening, and tells us that location is everything.

Pennsylvania ranks No. 27 in the nation for the highest income a household can earn and still be considered middle-class — $155,090. It takes $51,697 to cross the lower threshold into the middle class in Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh, one of the cities in Pennsylvania tracked in the study, the income range to be considered middle class is $44,636 to $133,908.

You can earn over $200k and still be middle class in five states. Massachusetts has the highest threshold to break out of the middle class, with the upper bounds at $209,656 per year. New Jersey is close behind with an upper bound of $208,588 on the middle class, followed by Maryland ($205,810), Hawaii ($201,490), and California ($200,298).

Mississippi has the lowest statewide middle class income range at $39k to $118k. A middle class household may earn less than $35,000 in Cleveland, Toledo and Buffalo — with a lower qualifying bound of $28,922 in Cleveland and $33,708 annually in Toledo.

Buffalo households need to earn just shy of $35,000 to meet the minimum middle class threshold. To break out of the middle class in Buffalo, the household needs to earn $104,442.