We can't view it that way because a lot of our "poor" people are making that kind of money. If you make $34k, have a wife and two kids, you are just above the poverty line in this country. You can make less, have gov't. housing, public assistance and, of course, food stamps, pay no income tax and be considered dirt poor here. Yet, you'll likely be very overweight, have a/c and cable tv in the house and a car. That's poor in the US.

In Canada, the top 10% of earners make $65K a year or more.

It doesn't matter where you choose to live with the income you have. If you have a hard time living with $342K, I suggest changing your lifestyle and locale.

For purposes of these surveys, why confuse it with personal spending habits, asset-to-debt ratios, mortgages and/or boat payments for your mistress? If you start off with X dollars AGI, that's a pretty good base figure for comparison with other AGI levels.

Sherwood

uh oh, that reminds me -- I am late on her boat payment