What Do People Mean When They Use the Term “Figures†in the Context of Money?

When people use of the term “figures†in the context of money, they are referring to the amount of digits in a number. For example, when someone

When people use the term “figures” in the context of money, they are referring to the number of digits in a number. For example, when someone says “six figures”, they are referring to a number between 100,000 and 999,999 — notice that all the numbers in this range have six digits.

Here are the number ranges that people are referring to when using “figures”:

So, if someone says they earn six figures per year, they want to convey that they are earning between $100,000 and $999,999 on a yearly basis. If we want to be more specific but still don’t want to disclose the exact number, we could say “low six figures” (closer to $100,000) or “high six figures” (closer to $999,999).

The term “figures” is usually used for larger numbers — you will rarely hear anyone say “three figures” or “four figures”. Most often, the term “figures” is used to refer to salaries or large transactions. Here are a few examples:

“Figures” can be used as a noun (examples 1 and 2) or as an adjective (examples 3 and 4).

Why do we use figures instead of simply referring to numbers?

The reason why we commonly use “figures” when discussing money is because it allows us to provide a rough estimate of how much money one is making without getting too specific.

Generally speaking, people are hesitant to disclose exactly how much money they are making and asking someone to disclose details about their salary is considered rude, especially if you don’t know them very well. Using “figures” allows one to provide an estimate of how much they earn without the conversation getting awkward.

In everyday conversations, someone asking about another person’s salary is not expecting to get a detailed response, and are usually just expecting to get a number expressed in figures to have a rough estimate of how well that person’s job is paying.

For example, one could respond by saying that they are earning “high 5 figures” or “low 6 figures”, which would provide enough information about their income range without disclosing the exact amount of money they earn.

The bottom line

“Figures” are a commonly used term when discussing money, especially when it comes to salaries or the size of large financial deals. The most common use of “figures” is to specify a rough salary range without disclosing an exact figure. This avoids the awkwardness of discussing salaries in too much detail.

If you want to learn more about terms used in the context of money, finance and cryptocurrency, take a look at the following articles: