Why do people think people who make more than 200,000 are rich?

I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I saw my parents' tax returns last night (they left them laying on my dad's desk and I went in his office to find something) and they made like 470,000 last year. But I don't feel like we're rich at all. My dad has a Toyota that's like 5 years old and my mom has a Honda and we live in a modest house. They buy relatively inexpensive clothes and refuse to shop at fancy stores. My mom loves to hunt for bargains and stuff, too. They got me an iPhone, but they still like to have cheap flip phones. The only thing my parents splurge on is my education (I go to a private school) and sometimes on vacations we stay in nice hotels once in a while. Why do people think people like us are rich? I feel like we have a really normal life (not out of touch with reality).

You are trying to brag

To the extremely poor, middle class is "rich".

Because they earn a hell of a lot

Because it is good money.

An income of nearly a half a million a year is a lot of money. Your parents don't feel the need to show off their money apparently. Maybe they're saving it for their old age.

Well, the majority of people make way less than that, so you seem rich by comparison.

The only people who think those who make 200,000 are rich, are those earning a lot less.

One year doesn't mean that much. It could have just been a sale on stock that year or something similiar. I made almost 200K on Apple stock, and had I sold it all one year it would have looked like I do that every year. The reality is thats only 1 year. I don't spend foolishly either, but my house is paid off, just because you have the money doesn't mean you spend it in a stupid way.