"Jane makes over six figures" - how much money does she make?
Suppose you are told that "Jane makes over six figures". Assuming this to be true, what is the minimum amount of money that Jane can be making?
I have always understood this to mean "Jane makes at least seven figures", i.e. "Jane makes at least $1,000,000", but I have recently learned that some people understand this to mean "Jane makes more than the smallest six-figure number", i.e. "Jane makes at least $100,001".
- Which of these interpretations is more widely understood?
- Which of these interpretations is prescriptively correct (if either)?
(I am aware that there are unambiguous ways to express the same idea, but that is beside the point here.)
Solution 1:
I'd actually be inclined to say Jane makes at least $100,000/year. In this case, I interpret over to mean greater than or equal to, even though I would normally assume it to mean greater than in numeric contexts. It just seems unlikely that Jane makes $1,000,000/year or more.
This usage also seems to be somewhat common when describing minimum age requirements, as in over 18 (vs. 18 or over). With ages, you can make the argument that after the precise passing of your 18th birthday, you're over 18 (e.g., 18 years and 1 day old), but at best, this seems ambiguous to me.
Prescriptively, it seems wrong to me. In actual usage, it seems ambiguous. I'd avoid it.
Solution 2:
"Jane makes six figures": at least $100 000, at most $999 999.
I've never heard or seen "over six figures", and I would definitely avoid it because of the ambiguity you note, but I would expect most people to mean "well over $100 000", because 1) not very many people earn seven-figure salaries and 2) for those who do, you can say "seven figures" or "a million dollars a year".
You're not the first to ask yourself the question: Teamliquid
Solution 3:
It seems this is all about parsing. The given phrase over six figures can be parsed in two obvious ways:
over (six figures)
which would be "more than 100,000", or
(over six) figures
which would "more than 1,000,000".
Neither parsing can be said to be "wrong", but it seems that the most commonly intended parsing is the first one.
Solution 4:
"Six figures" could be anywhere from 100,000 until 1,000,000. This is a rather wide range. Thus, it's often qualified. For example, "low six-figures", "mid six-figures", "high six-figures". Without qualification, it often seems reasonable to presume low six-figures. Why? Of the households earning at least 100k, 88% earn 100,000 - 249,999. This does not, however, mean "six-figures" is defined as 100,000. It's simply an ambiguous range to which one can apply common-sense assumptions.
The term "figure" refers to the number of digits. This is unambiguous, no room for argument. There's no other prescribed meaning. In my experience, this is also the colloquial usage. I've never heard someone argue for "six figures" to mean exactly 100,000. And if I did, I'd likely correct them (with as little pedantry as possible).
With this understanding, it's rather clear that "over six-figures" is at least 1,000,000, with the same understanding that without qualification, it's likely closer to 1,000,000 than 10,000,000.
Solution 5:
I would pay attention to the way they say it.
There was a Seinfeld episode--Episode 94 "The Mom and Pop Store"--where Jerry was trying to figure out whether he was invited to a party.
ELAINE: Well, I talked to Tim Whatley...
JERRY: Yeah...
ELAINE: And I asked him, "Should Jerry bring anything?"
JERRY: So...?
ELAINE: Mmmm...and he said, "Why would Jerry bring anything?"
JERRY: Alright, but let me ask you this question.
ELAINE: What?
JERRY: Which word did he emphasize? Did he say, "Why would Jerry bring anything?" or, "Why would Jerry bring anything?" You emphasize "Jerry" or "bring."
ELAINE: I think he emphasized "would."
The scene points out that a large amount of language is actually communicated via tone and emphasis. Jerry reasoned that if emphasis was on his name, then his attendance was in question, but if it was on "bring", then his attendance was assumed but his need to bring something for the party was in question. Of course, since Tim emphasized "would," there's no way to tell.
So if someone told me that a friend of theirs made "over six figures", I would assume that the six figures isn't the important part, but the "over," which would mean they make $1 000 000 or more, but if they said "over six figures", I would assume $100 001 - $999 999.
But if they emphasized "makes" I don't know what to tell you.