THE federal government considers an income of $150,000 wealthy enough for taxpayers to no longer receive its help.

But most people think a ''well off''' family with two parents and two children earns about $120,000, according to research by Essential Media. They are inclined, however, to raise the bar to $159,000 before they call that same family wealthy.

The $150,000 benchmark created a headache for the federal government last year when it froze the threshold for family payments and other benefits at $150,000 instead of allowing it to rise with inflation as it used to.

Families on $150,000 were not rich, Treasurer Wayne Swan said last May, but that they were ''rich enough'', a comment that created a talkback typhoon for a day or two.

The government is more careful in its language now but it appears its line in the sand is not all that out of step with what people think. As Mr Swan was railing against the ''rising power of vested interests'' such as billionaire trio Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest and Clive Palmer, Essential Media was conducting polling about the definition of rich.