FIRE on a median income is one of the most common questions I see, so let me share my honest take after 11 years of pursuing it.

At a median household income of ~$75k, FIRE at 45 is genuinely possible but requires a savings rate of roughly 40-50% for about 15 years. That's hard. It means aggressive housing cost control (renting below your means, house hacking, or moving to a lower cost-of-living area), driving paid-off used cars, and cooking almost all your meals.

The math works if you can sustain it. Someone who saves 50% of take-home at $75k gross (roughly $55k net after taxes) is investing about $27k/year. At 7% average annual return, 15 years of that reaches about $670k — close to a lean FIRE target for many people.

The harder question is whether the lifestyle is sustainable and whether you actually want to live that way for 15 years. Some people do it joyfully. Others burn out and drift back to lifestyle inflation. Know yourself.