We all have dreams and aspirations about earning ‘good money’. And there is a certain kudos around someone declaring an income of six figures.
Have you heard yourself saying you want to earn 6 figures in money?
Or perhaps you have been hearing others speak about this but you have no clue what they mean?
Do you want to earn more and be financially comfortable, but are not sure where to start?
Do not worry. You can find out all that and more as you keep reading!
This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Earning a 6 figure income takes hard work, but at the end of that journey, you can be rewarded with generational wealth and a more fulfilling life!
But what do these figures mean in real terms? And what kind of lifestyle does that size of income afford?
Today we’re going to look at:
exactly what those statements mean
the people who are making that level of income
what kind of jobs they hold, and
what their lifestyles may look like
We will look at what is meant by 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-, and 9-figure incomes in this article.
DISCLOSURE
Some of the links on here are affiliate links and I may earn if you click on them, AT NO EXTRA cost to you. Hope you find the information here useful! Thanks.
Table of Contents
What do we mean by a figure?
How much is 6 figures in money?
What is a 7-figure income?
What does an 8-figure income look like?
What does 9 figures mean?
Let’s talk about 10 figures!
What about a 4-figure income?
How much is a 5-figure income?
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So what is 6 figures in money? The 6 figures meaning is more than $100,000 but less than $1,000,000 (one million dollars).
If you are wondering what does figures mean in money, this is it.
And yes, it’s a lot of money!
Some people divide it even further, as six figures is still a huge range of income. While there’s no real consensus on what constitutes low, mid, or high six-figure incomes, common mathematical sense would suggest:
Low six-figures = $100,000 – $399,999
What Do We Mean By A Figure?
Let’s start by going back to school and quickly review the basics before we get started. A figure is simply a single number. For example 0, 2, 8, 5, 9.
If you are wondering what is a figure in money, this is it!
One single number is a figure.
The number 7931 is made up of four figures: 7, 9, 3, and 1.
The number 10 is made up of two figures: 1 and 0.
When somebody says they have a six-figure income, they mean that they earn between $100,000 and $999,999 per year.
6 digits money refers to 6 figures income.
The per-year part is key. That is the amount (before tax and other deductibles) that an individual earns in a single year.
As a side note, we don’t include the number of cents in the figures.
So if someone’s income was $1,500.52, that would count as a four-figure income, as the figures after the period don’t count.
Let’s dive right in to find out how much is 6 figures in money.
Mid six-figures = $400,000 – $699,999
High six-figures = $700,000 – $999,999
However, when I become a six-figure earner, I won’t be arguing with anyone about how much money is 6 figures!
If you are wondering 6 figures is how much, this is it.
Why Does Six Figures Matter?
For most people, crossing the threshold to a six-figure income is a milestone, a life goal, a dream. However, this doesn’t always mean someone is bringing home almost a million dollars.
Six figures broken into a monthly income would work out from the total income divided by 12 (the number of months per year).
What is 6 figures? This is it.
So, if you brought home an annual income of $200,000, your monthly salary would be $16,667.
If you earned $900,000 per annum, your monthly take-home pay would be a whopping $75,000 a month!
So even within the six-figure bracket, two individuals can have wildly differing earnings.
What Does a 6-Figure Lifestyle Look Like?
A six-figure annual salary is obviously a significant income. How far it stretches and the lifestyle it can afford you will depend on several things, including:
where you live
the size of your family
the way you choose to live
which end of the six-figure scale you are at.
Living in London or New York will require significantly more income than somewhere less iconic.
How much is 6 figures in money can be relative to how costly your lifestyle is on a day to day basis.
Many of us expect a six-figure income to create for us the lifestyle of our dreams – the fancy car, luxury holidays, expansive and palatial homes.
It should be noted though that even those with a six-figure income can find themselves living paycheck-to-paycheck without sound financial advice and investment.
However, taking a global view, having $100,000 in cash or investments would put you into the top 10% of wealthy individuals in the world.
6-Figure Salary Jobs
Only around 9% of Americans make six figures or more. Despite all the media focus on celebrities and their extravagant lifestyles, this level of income is still very rare anywhere in the world.
These qualifications will earn you excellent money, but will also cause you a significant amount of student debt:
Actuary ($103k+) – Someone who deals with assessing and managing risk and uncertainty
Surgeons ($250k+) – The specifics of how much any doctor is paid will depend on their speciality and seniority
Psychiatrists (216k+)
Dentists ($156k+)
Computer scientist ($118+)
Anaesthesiologists ($292k+)
Financial Managers ($128k+)
Six-Figure Salary Jobs that Don’t Require a Degree
Remember our earlier question: how much is six figures? Not everybody who earns six figures has spent years and years at college at great cost to their future selves.
Some people are born into money. Some people inherit money. Some people win money. Other people work hard.
Bringing $900,000 in from your work is not the same as inheriting $100,000.
Many higher earners work hard to protect their income by diversifying their income streams, creating passive income, as well as making use of long-term, high-yield investments.
According to USA Today in 2018, there were 77 occupations in the US that commanded salaries averaging six figures.
Some of those are listed below. Many require college degrees, but those with an entrepreneurial personality will find they can grow a six-figure business without going to college:
Bloggers -here’s my guide on how to get started in blogging
YouTubers
Online Entrepreneurs -here are my articles on how to get started on your entrepreneurial journey)
Air Traffic Controllers ($124k+)
Commercial Pilots ($161k+)
Web Developers ($110k+)
Business Owners
By including these roles in my list, I am not saying that you can’t do these roles with a degree, or that no one making money on YouTube has a degree!
Obviously many are graduates. I am merely stating that, unlike medicine for example, you can make excellent money in these roles without having graduated from college.
As many of these roles are more towards the entrepreneurial end of the spectrum, it is also vital that you look into the risk versus reward of each career.
6 figures a year may seem like an impossible task, but if you break it down into 12 months, you will be able to see how much you need to make each month to achieve such a goal.
For example, if your goal is to make $600,000 per year. That means you need to take $600,000 and divide it into 12 months. This will equal $50,000 per month.
Likewise, if your goal is to make $100,000 per year. That means you need to take $100,000 and divide it into 12 months. This will equal $8,334 per month that you need to make.
Depending on your lifestyle, choices, and jobs, it is possible to make this figure!
How Much Can I Make A Week Earning 6 Figures?
If you want to break it down further and find out how much you need to make in a week to achieve a 6 figure income goal, then please divide it into 52 weeks.
Using the same example as above.
$600,000 per year divided into 52 weeks will give you $11,539 per week. While a $ 100,000-year income will give you $1,924 per week.
How Much Can I Make A Day Earning 6 Figures?
Now, this is where the calculations get very interesting. How many days a week do you actually want to work?
Because it is not realistic to count your income by 365 days. As this means, you will work literally every day of the year without any break.
Hence, the safer option is to count it by 5 days which is the standard working week length.
Let’s use the figure that was calculated above for the weeks.
For example, if you are aiming for $1,924 per week to achieve a $100,000 a year income, that means you need to divide $1,924 into 5 days and you will get $385 per day.
Alternatively, if you are aiming for $11,539 per week to achieve $600,000 a year, then your day rate must be $2,308.
Does this seem doable for you depending on the work that you do? Don’t worry, as you keep reading, you will find out what you can do to achieve this goal!
How Much Can I Make An Hour Earning 6 Figures?
This calculation is even more interesting. You should not be dividing your income goal into 24 hours a day. It is not realistic if you are going for active income, which refers to income you need to actively pursue and work on.
The standard time that most people work a day is 8 hours. So, let’s divide what you calculated above for your day rate and see what you get.
For a daily rate of $2,308, your hourly rate will then become $289. Meanwhile, a day rate of $385 will lead to an hourly rate of $49.
To simplify everything for you, here is a table for you to visualize how much is 6 figures in dollars.
How Much Is 6 Figures After Taxes?
The tax rate differs according to your income bracket and your country of residence.
Additionally, if you are paying taxes in other countries so that you can also maintain your residency status there, then you need to account for it as well.
For United States Tax rates, you can check this source from PWC. Meanwhile, you can visit this UK Government Source for the UK Tax Rates.
Is 6 Figures A Lot Of Money?
This really depends on your lifestyle. For some people, making 4 to 5 figures a month is enough for them because it suits their lifestyle.
For others, even inheriting millions of dollars can lead to bankruptcy, if they do not manage their funds well.
Is 6 figures a million? No it is not. But with good lifestyle habits, your 6 figures will lead to a million dollar wealth.
What Would A 6 Figure Lifestyle Look Like?
In all honesty, earning 6 figures does not determine your lifestyle as much as the choices you make.
You must consider things like:
Where you stay.
Your saving habits.
Your spending habits.
Your investment habits.
Who you support and how much you give them.
3 Common Factors That Can Drastically Reduce 6 Figures
The 3 factors that can easily reduce your wealth are your debt, living costs, and spending habits.
Excessive Debt
If you are the kind who relies on credit cards to pay off your loans and expenses and then keeps paying the minimum repayment amount.
Alternatively, if you bought multiple properties or vehicles on loans that you pay off slowly.
You will find that your 6 figure income will slowly deplete into covering all your debts.
Poor Spending Habits
I am all about advocating for everyone to spend within their means. In fact, lots of people with much lower salaries can end up saving more money than someone with 6 figure income.
There is no such rule that says you must spend more money as you earn it. In fact, you are encouraged to increase your saving or investment habits instead.
However, the increased wealth tends to make individuals spend more on how they look and how much they can impress others. This will slowly deplete their wealth.
Cost Of Living
The cost of living varies depending on countries and cities. If you live in a location where the costs of goods, housing, food, and essential services are more affordable, your 6 figure wealth will stretch, plenty!
Alternatively, if you are living in fancy cities such as New York, Singapore, Hong Kong or Los Angeles, be prepared for your cost of living to go up. Especially for housing in prime real estate.
How To Maximise 6 Figures In Money
I have covered this in extensive detail in my articles that are within this category of saving money!
How To Create A 6-Figure Career Working From Home?
Would you believe me if I tell you that I have been aiming for this target and am slowly getting there by working purely from home?
This blog has been helping me attain my dream of building a 6 figure career and I want to help you do the same too!
I have an entire section focused on sharing with you how you can make money, and a majority of my recommendations are for jobs that involve working from home.
A 6 figure income can be helpful but is not the most important piece of wealth building. As what was shared above, you can choose to spend and save wisely, and that would make your 6 figure income go very far and allow you to then donate more and spend on those that you love.
However, if you suffer from lifestyle inflation, then even an 8 figure income will not be enough for you.
Is 6 Figures Enough To Retire On?
When it comes to focusing on retirement goals, you must be careful to research the location you wish to retire in. Different countries have different costs of living such as for housing and more importantly, medical expenses!
As you age, your medical needs will increase, and you need to carefully evaluate which location will take care of you and help your 6 figures wealth go far.
How To Build Wealth Without Making 6 Figures?
Did you know that it is entirely possible to save money even on a lowly 4-figure monthly salary? Yes, you read that right!
I wrote an entire article here on how to save money from a small salary! I have shared more than 25 tips there and it is quite extensive!
There are some interesting points such as:
How to reduce accommodation expenses
Meal planning tips
Having a cash envelope system
Reducing or cancelling your subscriptions
And many more!
People Who Earn 6 Figures
Looking at people in this income bracket, it would be quite easy to find individuals in the corporate world, or education executives, or medical specialists and find those consistently commanding six-figure incomes.
Looking at the entrepreneurial sector, bloggers and YouTubers are in the two obvious spheres within which you can easily find six-figure earners.
Edwin Contreras started out with a network of small websites in the late 1990s and learned how to work the software systems of Google.
He then progressed through stages, honing his craft as he began to make small amounts of money from his first blog and products he sold through it.
His move into the health and wellness niche saw him take strides into the six-figure income bracket.
Rich Ferguson is a highly successful YouTuber, with a channel showing videos of him doing pranks, carrying our social experiments, sharing how-tos and sharing magic tricks.
What Is a 7-Figure Income?
How Much is 7 Figures?
How much money is 7 figures?
Seven-figure incomes are anything over $1,000,000 till $9,999,999. This is a 7 figures meaning.
Again, there is clearly a huge disparity between someone earning $1million and another at the top end of the income bracket earning $9million!
7-Figure Jobs
You’ll notice that many of the 6-figure jobs are repeated in this section. This is because of the huge overlap at these income levels.
The jobs that would see you bringing in a 7-figure salary include:
All individuals in this income bracket are considered to be millionaires and many in this bracket are first-generation rich.
The reality is that those in this bracket with traditional careers won’t always be there. The nature of their income is that when it is coming from their career, it has time-limited earning potential.
However, many others are entrepreneurs, setting themselves up for life, with both active and passive incomes. People such as:
Rosemarie Groner, or The Busy Budgeter, as she is known online at the personal finance blog she started from scratch in 2015
Sabrina Philipp, an online business coach, and strategist, now making seven figures from her business
Tanner Chidester, self-made millionaire, and owner of Fit Warrior and Elite CEOs.
What Does An 8-figure Income Look Like?
How Much is 8 Figures?
The figures are getting beyond most people’s imaginations now!
Are you wondering 8 figures is how much?
But an eight-figure income would see someone become a multi-millionaire.
What is 8 figures?
These are people with an annual income of between $10,000,000 (ten million dollars) to $99,999,999.
Please keep reading for 8 figure salary jobs.
8-Figure Jobs
YouTubers
Athletes
Movie Stars
CEOs
Hedge Fund Managers
Website Owners
People Who Earn 8 Figures
YouTuber Ryan Kaji of Ryan’s World channel made $26 million in 2019, making videos of his toy reviews and unboxings. He usually releases a new video every day and these often include his parents and twin sisters. He is currently the highest-earning YouTuber in the world
Actor Dwayne Johnson made $87.5million in 2019 according to Forbes. He is famous for his action movies such as Fast and Furious and Rampage, plus latterly entering the family movie market with Moana and Jumanji
Ariane Grande made $72million from her music, merchandise, sponsorships, and other endorsements and work in 2019, with a world tour grossing $146million. She is the highest-paid female celebrity on Forbes 2019 list
Moz, the SEO community and service provider, founded by Rand Fishkin and now edited by Morgan McMurray brought in $44.9m in 2019
Tim Sykes, penny trader turned blogger and Instagram star was estimated to be worth $20million in 2019
Mohammed Salah, Liverpool and Egypt footballer made $95million in 2019.
What Does 9 Figures Mean?
How Much is 9 Figures?
Are you wondering what is 9 figures?
Nine figures is any income number with nine digits in it: $100,000,000 and up. This is a 9 figures meaning.
This is written in words as one hundred million dollars. For most people, a truly unbelievable amount of money.
When you reach this level of income, you are talking about an incredibly select group of individuals across the world. Often they have inherited wealth, or have built on a family business that has exploded. Usually, they are in the tech sector or industry.
However, this level of income (9 and 10 figures) becomes more cloudy when it comes to trying to identify the actual take-home pay of an individual.
For example, Jeff Bezos, founder, president, and CEO of Amazon ( a 10-figure earner) is often reported as making billions of dollars in a single day. That income is usually tied into the company’s stocks and not his actual salary.
Having 9 digits money means you are amongst the highest earners in the world.
9 Figure Jobs
Tech Company Bosses
Hedge Fund Managers
Media Stars
Pop Superstars
Elite Athletes
People Who Earn 9 Figures
Roger Federer, the Swiss-born tennis player made $106 million in 2019
Ed Sheeran, the British pop superstar earned a reported $110,000,000 in 2019
Pop sensation Taylor Swift made $185million over 2019
Media star and heiress Kylie Jenner brought in $170million in 2019
If you are wondering 9 figures is how much, the salaries above refer to it.
Let’s Talk About 10 Figures!
How Much is 10 Figures?
Now we have moved into the realm of the few! Ten figures is $1,000,000,000 which is more commonly known as one billion dollars (but occasionally still referred to as one thousand million dollars).
Most of the individuals residing in this section will be worth ten figures and up as ten figures would see them remaining at an income level of one to nine billion.
Many in the list below are worth far in excess of that.
10-Figure Jobs
It isn’t really possible to list the jobs that would bring you a ten figure income, beyond describing the jobs and roles that the people below are doing right now: tech giants, philanthropists, heirs and heiresses, and media magnates.
As with a 9-figure income, looking at the annual income of an individual would not give you clear insight into their actual take-home pay.
For example, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook pays himself just $1 a year, a legal requirement to ensure he remains registered as a legal employee, but he draws no other salary.
This would see him tumble into the category of poverty, with a single digit income!
However, at this level of earnings, that is obviously not the case. Check out this list of other top CEOs who do the same.
People Who Earn 10 Figures
We are talking about a select, but growing, group of people in several industries:
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, CEO, and President
Bill Gates, entrepreneur, software developer, and philanthropist, best known as the co-founder of Microsoft
Qin Yinglin, the world’s richest pig farmer and owner of Shenzhen-listed Muyuan Foods
Alice Walton, the heir to the Walmart fortune
Eric Yuan, a fairly recent addition to the billionaire’s list and founder of Zoom Video Communications
Mark Zuckerberg, media magnate, entrepreneur and philanthropist, chairman, chief executive officer, controlling shareholder, and co-founder of Facebook
What About Smaller Figures?
Moving to the other end of the scale, four and five-figure earners are bringing home a much lower amount.
These would often be seen in zero-hours contract work when employees are essentially contracted by an organization but without the guarantee of a set number of hours per week.
When they have no hours, they receive no pay.
These contracts are often cited as unreliable, stressful, and are low-income generators.
What About A 4-Figure Income?
How Much Is 4 Figures?
If you are wondering what is 4 figures in money is, a four-figure earner would bring home an annual salary of between $1,000-$9,999.
4 figures meaning is when there are 4 digits such as in the example above. there are
Having 4 figures money would be considered an extremely low annual income in the US or UK.
A 4 figure salary would not provide sufficient income for an individual to live off and would see them living in poverty, were they required to make the regular outgoings expected (housing, food, essential bills).
4-Figure Jobs
What is 4 figures?
These are often menial, low-skilled roles that would be outsourced to other countries.
The fact they are almost always part-time or zero hours roles also brings down any possible earnings.
Any job in this bracket would usually be paid by the hour and would not often be referred to by an annual income.
If you are wondering how much money is 4 figures, it is between $1,000 to $9,999.
Many jobs requiring college-level study fall into the mid-to-higher end of this bracket, including healthcare professionals, corporate work, banking, and teachers.
Obviously many of these careers can cross over into the six-figure income bracket, particularly once an individual progresses into management roles within their profession.
People Who Earn 5 Figures
Many of your friends and family are likely to be five-figure earners if they work in any of the jobs detailed above.
We may not know many people making a six-figure income, but five figures is significantly more common for most of us.
That should answer your question: How Much Is 6 Figures In Money?
I think our whistle-stop tour of high earners and what their income looks like has established how much is six figures in money.
We’ve also looked at what kind of earnings many of us can expect to see throughout our working lives.
But if we are talking simply about wealth, we must look at more than just money. Here are a few of my quick ways to help increase your income:
As you can see, the secret to increasing your income and aiming for the six-figure bracket is to diversify your income streams, create passive income, and follow some of the steps detailed above.
6 figures money isn’t within the reach of everybody in the world, but there is no reason why you can’t start to try to slowly increase what you bring home every month.
How Much Is 6 Figures In Money?+Jobs That Pay 6 figures! 2023