I consider $100k to be minimum wage in Seattle. It was just enough to not be constantly money stressed as long as I was living modestly. I could see doctors, invest in hobbies, have choices in food, build savings/retirement. Could not eat out every day, buy a house any time soon, or impulse buy particularly expensive stuff. Any time I made less than $100k here I felt like I was always two steps behind, at about that salary my life stopped focusing on scraping by. I make more now and I feel like I’m actually thriving here. Still quite a difference in what I’d consider to be middle class though like there’s no way I can get a house here and I’d for sure be much worse off if I had kids