It depends upon where you are, but $120K does not sound affluent (unless this book was written decades ago). Not sure where the $100K houses are either - even in some questionable areas of the nearby major city, prices are at or above $100K. In this area, $120K is well below the median family income (and is why we are the "poor people" in the area).
That being said, while there are materialistic folks here, my kids have found plenty of friends (and some are very wealthy) who are not materialistic. You would never realize that these families have money to burn. Some of them are very down to earth and use their money for philanthropic causes.
While my kids like nice things, and they have some, they also see folks who could afford all sorts of stuff, but choose to purchase only the things that they really want and use. These folks often have large investments in corporations - which employ a lot of folks.
