No amount of salary makes you upper class when the class boundary is defined by having passive income sufficient to meet all expenses. A salary of 2x expenses

No amount of salary makes you upper class when the class boundary is defined by having passive income sufficient to meet all expenses. A salary of 2x expenses will put you in the upper class within 22 years (with average market returns), and passive income will fully replace the salary within another 8 years, but until then, that's still middle class. Basically, if you can afford to invest 1/6 or more of your income, you can make it to upper class within your lifetime, and still have time left to enjoy it.