How much money people say they need to earn in 9 countries to feel financially secure

How much annual income would you need to feel financially secure?

Your answer probably depends on a litany of factors, including how much debt you have, how much you have saved in case of an emergency and whether or not you have children.

Another major factor: which country you live in.

Consider the responses to CNBC's International Your Money Financial Security Survey conducted by SurveyMonkey. Adults in the U.S. and eight other countries were asked how much money, at a minimum, they'd have to make to feel financially secure and could choose from four levels of annual income.

For U.S. respondents, those were $50,000, $100,000, $500,000 and $1 million. Residents of other countries were given roughly analogous levels in their national currencies. Respondents could also indicate that they'd never feel financially secure.

Here's how much money people around the world say they need to make, per year, to feel financially secure.

United States

• $50,000: 33%
• $100,000: 43%
• $500,000: 13%
• $1,000,000: 3%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 8%

United Kingdom

• £50,000: 64%
• £100,000: 19%
• £500,000: 4%
• £1,000,000: 3%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 10%

Germany

• €50,000: 53%
• €100,000: 29%
• €500,000: 9%
• €1,000,000: 1%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 9%

France

• €50,000: 45%
• €100,000: 30%
• €500,000: 13%
• €1,000,000: 4%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 8%

Spain

• €50,000: 57%
• €100,000: 27%
• €500,000: 8%
• €1,000,000 3%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 5%

Switzerland (Swiss franc)

• ₣50,000: 20%
• ₣100,000: 54%
• ₣500,000: 16%
• ₣1,000,000: 3%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 7%

Singapore (Singapore dollar)

• $50,000: 12%
• $100,000: 31%
• $500,000: 30%
• $1,000,000: 22%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 4%

Australia (Australian dollar)

• $50,000: 26%
• $100,000: 50%
• $500,000: 14%
• $1,000,000: 2%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 9%

Mexico (peso)

• $500,000: 46%
• $1,000,000: 25%
• $5,000,000: 13%
• $10,000,000: 8%
• I'll never feel financially secure: 8%

Differing attitudes toward financial security

Naturally, data from the survey presents an incomplete picture of what financial security looks like from country to country. After all, 100,000 U.S. dollars isn't the same as 100,000 Singapore dollars or 100,000 Swiss francs. Cost of living and average wages vary from country to country too.

Plus, the salaries provided don't leave much room for nuance; someone who feels just short of secure at $100,000 may not actually need quintuple the amount to get there.

Nevertheless, a few trends stand out. Residents of the U.K. were the likeliest, at 64%, to feel financially secure at the lowest salary band on offer. A majority of respondents from Spain and Germany felt the same way.  

A majority of Singaporeans surveyed, meanwhile, said they'd only feel secure at the higher salary bands. Some 30% said they'd need the equivalent of $370,231 American dollars to feel stable, and 22% said they'd need $740,462 a year.

These numbers likely reflect differences in pay and cost of living, but no matter where you're from, it seems, there's a good chance that your finances are on somewhat shaky footing. With the exception of Mexico, a majority of respondents in each country surveyed said they were living paycheck-to-paycheck.

One silver lining: No more than 10% of respondents from any country expressed that they'd never feel financially secure. No matter where you're from, it seems, there's a general feeling that you can figure it out financially.

Conversions from Singapore dollars to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 SGD to 0.74 USD on April 2, 2024. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.

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