Dollar General CEO Says $100K Earners No Longer Feel 'High Income' as Inflation Hits Spending

Dollar General's chief executive says a growing number of Americans earning $100,000 (£75,000) a year no longer feel like high earners, as years of inflation and a fresh jump in fuel prices reshape how even comfortable households spend.

Todd Vasos, who leads the discount retailer, told a Goldman Sachs conference that the financial strain once confined to the chain's poorest shoppers has spread across every income band, and that six-figure earners are increasingly among those sounding the alarm. 'We've seen a customer across all cohorts of income levels being somewhat distressed, especially in sustained inflation,' he said.

'What we're hearing more and more from them is "I don't feel like I'm higher income at $100,000 any longer," because of all of the headwinds that I just mentioned,' Vasos said.

The comparison is pointed. Vasos defines Dollar General's core customer as anyone earning below $45,000 (£34,000), a group whose spending has always turned on one number at the petrol pump.

Gas Prices and the $4 Tipping Point

The chain has tracked that number for years. Once fuel clears $4 (£3) a gallon, its core shoppers stay closer to home, visit more often, and buy less on each trip, purchasing what they can afford when they can afford it rather than stocking up. What has changed, Vasos said, is how far up the income scale that caution now reaches.

'Even that middle to upper middle is acting more like a lower-income shopper these days,' he said, pointing to years of compounding costs rather than any single shock.

The pressure has sharpened at the forecourt. The national average stood at $4.476 (£3.37) a gallon, up from $3.189 (£2.40) a year earlier, according to AAA, as conflict involving Iran unsettled global oil markets and drove diesel to $6.50 (£4.90), raising the cost of almost everything moved by lorry. Utilities, cars, insurance, food, and care costs have climbed alongside it.

That combination has pushed better-off shoppers toward the discounters. Walmart has reported wealthier customers hunting for value in its aisles, and the same trade-down is now reaching dollar stores. Vasos argued the chain is well placed to catch them, noting it sits 'within 5 miles of 75% of the U.S. population.'

Why Six Figures No Longer Feels Like Enough

Dollar General's read matches what households are telling pollsters. A November 2025 Harris Poll study found that 64% of six-figure earners regard their pay not as a mark of success but as the bare minimum to stay afloat. Even those on $200,000 (£150,000) or more have adopted habits once tied to tighter budgets: 64% have used rewards points for essentials, 50% have turned to buy-now-pay-later plans for purchases under $100, and 46% lean on credit cards to reach the end of the month.

Some analysts argue the official measures of comfort are simply out of date. Michael Green, chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management, wrote in a widely shared essay last year that the real crisis line now sits far higher. 'If the crisis threshold, the floor below which families cannot function, is honestly updated to current spending patterns, it lands at $140,000,' he wrote, a figure worth about £105,000.

What $100,000 Actually Buys Now

The arithmetic explains the mood. Goods and services that cost $100 in 2016 run to roughly $134 today, US Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show, so a $100,000 salary now buys about what $75,000 did a decade ago.

The slide has become online shorthand, with Reddit threads declaring that '$100,000 a year is the new $39,000' as users trade stories of six-figure pay absorbed by rent, childcare, and groceries.

For now, Vasos framed the strain as manageable rather than alarming, crediting a labour market that has kept most households in work. Retail sales rose a stronger-than-expected 1.2% in August, and 1.1% once fuel was excluded, a sign that shoppers keep adjusting rather than retreating. As long as people stay employed, he argued, they find a way through, and the chain's cheapest lines matter more when budgets are tight.

'Having 2,000 items at or below $1 is very meaningful for the consumer, always has, but especially in this environment,' Vasos said.