In California those families with a combined income of $250,000 or more are considered wealthy.  

ARE YOU SERIOUS?? 

Do these people know that the median income for a family of 4 in California is $74,801?  Wealth should not be defined as what you make in a calendar year.  For instance, Family A and B each made $250,000 in 2008.  Famiy A lives in Oakland, CA, has 2 children in college, costing about $70,000/year.  Mom was diagnosed with cancer and their insurance did not cover all of the costs.  The past two months they have been unable to make their mortgage payments.  Family B lives in Clarksville, TN, has 2 children, each in Jr. High School.  Last year Family B went to Europe for 3 weeks and even purchased a second home.  But because both families earned $250,000 both families are considered wealthy.

Now lets look at the cost of living for both cities:

In Oakland, CA, you would pay about $680,000 for a decent size house to accomodate a family of 4; to rent, you would pay around $1800 – $2000. 

In Clarksville, TN, a house would cost you $226,000 and rent would be $620.

In high cost states, like California, many households make a combined income of $250,000.  But I would certainly not say that these families are wealthy by any means (at least not the ones I know).  This is why the presidents stimulous package isn’t going to help Californian’s a whole lot.  The caps on the package should be adjusted for cost of living, just like the loan limits.

For those curious cats out there, check out http://www.bankrate.com/brm/movecalc.asp to see how the cost of living varies city to city.