My wife and I have lived in a number of places, and we’ve never earned 200k. I would consider myself wealthy if I made that much, anywhere.
The problem is that as your income goes up to that level, so do your taxes. My husband and I together are blessed to make slightly over that mark. However, if you add the taxes from the increased bracket, the rolldown of your itemized deductions, and the lovely alternative minimum tax, we probable take home the same amount or slightly less than people making 20-30 thousand less than we do.
I’ getting tired of getting “soaked” to pay for everyone else. Last year we paid well over 60K in just federal and state income tax, and it could have been more than that - my PTSD over it blocks out the real number unless I go back and look it up. If socialized medicine comes along, I plan to retire, dramatically reduce my income, sell my big house in favor of a smaller one, and change my lifestyle a lot. It won’t hurt me at all, but it certainly will hurt the car salesman, the appliance store, the home depot guy......
In my small town in Texas, $200K would be a lot of money. Try living on that in Manhattan. You and your wife could easily spent $12,000 a year, $12,000 a year in post tax dollars, after paying Federal, State and City income taxes, just to park your cars. Monthly rent on a cheap three bedroom apartment is more than my wife and I pay per quarter for our house, with garage, shed and 1 acres yard.