It depends how you define rich. One guideline I use is that people are rich if they can afford their home outright in cash (not after 15 or 30 years). By those

It depends how you define rich. One guideline I use is that people are rich if they can afford their home outright in cash (not after 15 or 30 years). By those standards, 250-300k is not rich in Seattle. You'd still need to save for quite a few years to buy a home cash in the area.