Making six-figures seems like a status symbol today. But how much is 6 figures?
You may have wondered what that means if you’ve heard it before. Short answer:
Six-figures is simply having six digits in a number. So, a six-figure salary is anything between $100,000 and $999,999 per year.
We’ll discuss the different levels of figure (6-, 7-, 8-figures and more) incomes, the types of jobs that typically make those salaries, and what those numbers look like on a per-month and per-hour basis.
But first, let’s discuss a bit more about figures.
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How Much Is a Figure?
A figure is a digit in a number. So, a figure doesn’t have a specific value because it depends on each digit’s value in the number.
A number between one and nine contains one digit and is a single figure.
Numbers between 10 and 99 contain two digits and are 2-figures.
Numbers between 100 and 999 contain three digits and are 3-figures.
Numbers between 1,000 and 9,999 contain four digits and are 4-figures.
A clear pattern: number of digits = number of figures.
As you can see, the more digits, or figures, the wider the range in value a number could be.
How Much Money Is In a Figure?
Similar to asking how much is a figure, determining how much money is in a figure depends on each digit’s value.
For example, $100,000 is a six-figure number.
However, $900,000 is also a six-figure number.
So if someone says they are making six-figures, they could be on the lower-end and be considered middle class or be at the higher-end and be upper class.
Regardless of how much money they make, keep in mind that it doesn’t determine if they are rich or poor or financially fit.
Someone making $100,000 could be debt-free, have millions of dollars in the bank, and be the happiest person in the world.
And someone making $900,000 could be drowning in debt, have zero savings, and be miserable.
So remember that how you manage your money can have more impact on your life than how much you make.
Additionally, if someone says they have six-figures, they may be referring to their net worth instead of their salary.
What Does Figures Mean in Money?
Figures in money identify a range based on the number of digits.
For example, if someone asks how much is 6 figures, the answer ranges between 100,000 and 999,999.
As you can see below, each time a new figure is reached, the range grows exponentially.
The range for 6-figures is so extensive, you can barely see the 1-, 2-, and 3-figure ranges. And if this chart were expanded to include the 8-figure range, the 6-figure range would look as small as the 4-figure range in the chart.
So, while it only takes $1 to move from one range to another, the size of the next higher range is ten times as large.
Six-Figure Income
Achieving a 6-figure income is a milestone for many people. They want to join the 6 figures club.
If you’re a blogger like me, you’ll also hear the term six-figure blogger – definitely a goal for many bloggers. And some bloggers even make 6 figures per month!
However, because many can live their lives comfortably with much lower incomes, this milestone is typically more of a psychological one and just good for bragging rights like a perfect credit score.
The other thing to consider is that incomes and their buying power depend on where you live.
$100,000 will go a long way in a small town in the midwest, but not so much in New York City or San Francisco. The cost of living in those areas is extremely high, so your money won’t go as far.
How Much Is a 6-Figure Income?
As we discussed above, a six-figure income is anything between $100,000 and $999,999 per year.
And, while this is a broad range, people typically refer to different levels of six-figure incomes when discussing how much is 6 figures.
- Low six-figures is between $100,000 and $400,000.
- Mid six-figures is between $400,000 and $700,000.
- And high six-figures is between $700,000 and $999,999.
One might think that the cutoff would be around $333,333 because that is $999,999/3. However, you need to subtract the first $100,000, so it is actually $899,999/3, or $300,000.
Six Figures vs. $100,000 vs. $100K
You may have seen these different terms around and wondered if they are the same thing or something else.
Well, $100K is just a short way of saying $100,000. The “K” is short for a thousand. It actually comes from the Greek word kilo. If you are familiar with the metric system, a kilo is a thousand of something. For example, a kilometer is 1000 meters.
And you’ll see “K” used in financial charts and documents for shorthand replacing the three zeros for thousands. Similarly, you’ll see “M” used to replace the six zeros for millions (e.g., $5M=$5,000,000 and $75M=$75,000,000).
So while $100K and $100,000 can be used interchangeably, six-figures isn’t as straightforward.
Many people will use six-figures when talking about a salary exceeding $100,000. But remember, six-figures refers to the range of 100,000 to 999,999, so it could cause confusion.
Six-Figure Salary Jobs
According to this USA Today article, there are over 75 occupations that average six-figure salaries.
Most of these jobs are stressful and require college degrees.
Typical professions that can make six-figure incomes include:
- Medical/Dental
- Anesthesiologist
- Surgeons
- General Practitioners
- Psychiatrists
- Pharmacists
- Optometrists
- Dentists
- Orthodontists
- Lawyers
- Engineers
- Aerospace
- Chemical
- Nuclear
- Petroleum
- Information Technology Jobs
- Actuaries
- Financial Managers
- Physicists
- Astronomers
- Airplane Pilots/Flight Engineers
Keep in mind this is just a sampling of jobs that average in the six-figures.
And the average part is essential to understand. Higher salaries in some of these fields are based on location, experience, and education.
Other Ways to Achieve Six-Figures
While having a job that pays an excellent salary is one way to achieve six-figures, it isn’t the only way.
Starting a side hustle or creating passive income streams can help you reach that 6-figure milestone. It could even make you enough money to earn a 6 figure passive income without your other income. Imagine making 6 figures working from home!
- Starting a blog can create significant amounts of income on the side. You can start a blog about just about anything and monetize it. It could be related to your current profession or one of your hobbies. And starting a blog doesn’t cost much money.
- Starting an e-commerce business. You can either sell something you make, perform retail arbitrage, or source and sell your own product on Amazon FBA.
- Investing is another excellent way to supplement your income. Whether you invest in the stock market or us an app like Fundrise to invest in real estate, investing can grow into a substantial income source over time.
While most people focus on increasing their salary to make six-figures (which isn’t bad), many don’t think about creating other streams of income. Having a diverse mix of income streams can help you reach higher incomes and avoid financial hardship during difficult times.
How Much Is a 6-Figure Salary per Hour?
While making $100,000 may seem like an impossible task for many, if we break that number down a bit, it can seem more achievable.
The first breakdown of $100,000 per year would be to see how much it is per month.
$100,000/12 months = $8,333 per month
So, $8,333? That doesn’t seem quite as unreachable, but it is still a good amount of money every month.
Let’s break it down to a per-hour rate.
Based on the typical workweek in America, we’ll use 40 hours to get our rate.
$100,000/40 hours/52 weeks = $48.08 per hour
Making close to $50 per hour can still be a hard number for many to reach. And if you aren’t in a profession like one of those above, you might not be able to make that with your job alone.
The good news is that if you turn to one of the other ways of making money, like blogging or e-commerce, you aren’t limited to 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day. You can make money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Six figures is how much a day?
$100,000/365 days = $273.97 per day
So, let’s see what the hourly rate is based on that.
$273.97/24 hours = $11.42 per hour
A bit under $12 per hour.
Now, don’t get me wrong, making that every hour of every day may seem intimidating, but it is definitely possible to make that much on average
And if you have a job that pays you $25 per hour, the $12 per hour would be cut in half to $6 per hour.
So let’s take blogging as an example. You can monetize a blog in so many different ways. The most common methods are ad revenue, affiliate marketing, and selling your own products. Blogs with those methods in place and sufficient traffic can far exceed those numbers.
Ad revenue for a high-traffic blog can bring in a few thousand dollars each month. Affiliate programs pay from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars per signup – and some have recurring commissions. Sponsored posts can fetch hundreds or even thousands of dollars. And if you sell an online course, you can make hundreds of dollars for every sale you make.
And the best part is once those things are created, they are available 24/7 to make you money.
Does Making 6 Figures Make You Rich?
Unfortunately, this isn’t a straightforward question.
First of all, assuming this is about money, is it a six-figure salary or six-figures worth of savings?
And, as discussed above, six-figures is a range between $100,000 and $999,999.
If you’re on the upper part of that range in annual salary, you should be rich, but again, your lifestyle will determine that.
And if you’re towards the lower end of the range, it depends on your lifestyle and where you live.
You can live very comfortably on a salary of $100,000 in a location with a low cost of living provided you live within your means. But it won’t last long if you live in San Francisco.
If you’re talking about having a 6-figure bank account, $100,000 isn’t very much, especially for retirement.
But most of all, being rich is very subjective. What I find rich, you may not.
7-, 8-, 9-Figures and Above
When you start talking about incomes above the 6-figure range, the types of jobs to make that kind of money become more limited.
Senior executives at large companies, business owners, professional athletes, famous actors, and musicians come to mind.
How Much Is 7 Figures?
Seven figures is a number with seven digits in it. People with 7-figure incomes make $1,000,000 to $9,999,999 per year.
These people are millionaires based on their income alone, but millionaires also include people who don’t make this amount but have accumulated savings of over $1M.
How Much Is a 7-Figure Salary per Hour
We’ll calculate this the same as for a six-figure salary.
$1,000,000/40 hours/52 weeks = $480.77 per hour
How Much Is 8 Figures?
Eight figures is a number with eight digits in it. People with 8-figure incomes make $10,000,000 to $99,999,999 per year.
This income level is limited to Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of large companies, top professional athletes, and top celebrities (actors, actresses, musicians, comedians).
How Much Is an 8-Figure Salary per Hour
$10,000,000/40 hours/52 weeks = $4,807.69 per hour
How Much Is 9 Figures?
Nine figures is a number with nine digits in it. People with 9-figure incomes make $100,000,000 to $999,999,999 per year.
Very few achieve an income in this range and above. And income in this range is complicated. It can include stock options and other incentives for senior executives.
Senior hedge fund managers and tech company leaders fall into the 9-figure and above range.
How Much Is a 9-Figure Salary per Hour
$100,000,000/40 hours/52 weeks = $48,076.92 per hour
Crazy!!!
Imagine the house you could buy after a single week of work. Or even a couple days!
Sometimes you’ll see someone like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk making billions in a day. That is typically tied to stocks they own in their companies. Their actual salaries are quite low. In fact, Elon’s is $0. But they are making billions based on the performance of their companies.
Regardless, while it is nice to dream, most of us are happy just wondering how much is 6-figures (and maybe 7-figures too).
Envisioning 6-Figures (and more) of Money
It can be a little difficult to envision how money stacks up when you get into the millions and billions.
So here are some concrete examples of how many one-dollar bills it takes to get to these amounts.
A one-dollar bill is 0.0043 inches tall. So:
- The height of $100 in dollar bills is slightly under a half-inch or about the thickness of a #2 pencil.
- $1,000 in dollar bills is about 4.3 inches, or about half an inch less than a soda can.
- $100,000 in dollar bills is just under 36 feet, or about the height of a telephone pole.
- $1M in dollar bills is just under 360 feet, or about as long as a football field.
- $1 billion in dollar bills is just under 68 miles, or about ten times as high as a commercial aircraft flies (and about 6 miles beyond where space begins).
Summary of How Much Is 6 Figures
Making six-figures can be quite an accomplishment.
But when talking to people about six-figures or reading about it, it is essential to remember that how much is 6 figures isn’t about a specific number. It is about a range.
And that range is huge – $100,000 to $999,999.
Hopefully, you find yourself somewhere in that range, but if you don’t, don’t forget to consider creating additional streams of income.
And regardless of where you fall in the income category or net worth category, you should consider using a tool like Personal Capital to track your net worth and keep an eye on all of your accounts in one place. It’s free!