re: Amount you need to earn to live comfortably by state

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The numbers in the OP all scream upper middle class, which “comfort” loving seems to be a perfect tie in

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Yeah, it's all about the definition of "comfortable."

I would have said my family was "comfortable" growing up, which to me means that we didn't lack for any necessities. I would say for about half of my childhood we were lower middle class and then moved up to solid middle class by the time I got to middle school, but we were nowhere near upper middle class.

Sounds like you and the author of the chart define "comfortable" as meaning that you have several luxuries as well as necessities.

I don't think either use of the word is wrong.

I think American society has become much more luxury oriented and disposable minded than it was when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s.

In the town I live in people don't buy a house that is more than 15-20 years old and just move into it. If they buy one that old, it's going to be seriously renovated. Sometimes people will buy it and tear it down and rebuild on the lot. People can't just have any house and customize it with drapes and wall paint anymore. It's got to be a custom designed space just for them. I think all those ridiculous reality house-buying shows are a driver for that trend. And I'm talking about young people buying their first house as well as older people who have been around the block a time or two.

Same with vehicles. My parents bought exactly one brand new vehicle in their whole lives. When they first got married in 1963 they bought a Volkswagen Beetle and shared it. Every other vehicle they ever bought was used, and they would always have one "good" vehicle that was reliable enough to take out of town and one "just for around town" vehicle. They didn't see the need to have two "good" ones at a time.

We handed down clothes, bikes, toys, vehicles, and it was just something that everyone expected to do. And I don't just mean within my own family (well, vehicles were confined to the family unit, but the first three) either. Our moms would trade clothes and toys and other kid things when their kids would outgrow them so that other kids they knew could use them. Now people just throw stuff out and buy new.

In short, middle class culture in America growing up was a good bit different than it is now in general. It was a lot more conservation-minded and thrifty and more about needs and less about wants. We knew some people who were more like most people are today, of course—everyone wasn't like we were—but those people were generally thought of in the community as spend-thrifts.

So I'm not saying you're wrong. I just don't use that word that way.

If we mean "upper middle class," then yeah. $195,000 in Alabama is a good number.