They're going to need to be earning a lot just to be able to afford me in the first place. Cash up front (or major credit cards) only.

Income has to be a part of any relationship. Otherwise one is doing all the supporting. This is not a healthy situation. My late partner and I switched several times between being the prime supporter and the secondary. Some things like medical and house were always on my shoulder. Toward the end I was to be the prime until she reached the right age for SS and then we would share equally.

I don't have a large income but there is more than enough for the basics and I actually save. I also have a nice nest egg. With my house situation I would hope a future person would be able to buy half of the equity. My late partner's will stated her half would go to donations to some groups and that would need to be addressed. The main thing I look for is not having a little income but having too much. Mine is not a situation for a large income and someone with such would expect more than I would want to give.

It's not so much income but net worth and fiscal responsibility. I lost half of everything I had earned in my life in a divorce. I paid about $200K in spousal support (no kids), she got a cabin on 45 acres that she sold for $650K, a luxury SUV, and half of my stuff and cash. I have now recovered from that and want to retire soon.

For me, the most important thing is being able to support your spending habits and eventual retirement. So living beneath your means to enable saving and / or investing. No credit card or consumer debt. Good credit rating.

Of course I often date women who don't meet these criteria. I wouldn't live with anyone without an iron clad pre-cohabitation agreement.

Quite a ways done my list.

I require someone I'm dating to have a job and pay their own bills. Beyond that it's none of my business.

I think there's more than one way to think about it.... I don't make a lot of money, am retired... However, everything I own down to what is in my fridge is payed for in full...My home, my property, my vehicle, all my tools & toys.... I do not own a credit card, & do not want or need one, I think the banks have made enough money off me in my life already. My property taxes are $157 a year.... My lifestyle is simple, but not because it has to be, but because it is how I choose to live it.... I know people who make in excess of $60K a year who struggle to make a mortgage & misc. payments every month, & a 6 month illness could potentially wipe them out...I guess the moral of my story is that if you judge someone solely on their actual income, you might just be basing your opinion of them on just the tip of the iceberg, not the whole thing...

It's not what you make, but what you do with it.
When I worked at waffle house and paid the bills at my apartment I always had money on me to do what I wanted and get what I wanted because I could manage it well.
There were other people I knew that had the same job, worked more hours had the same bills and yet were always broke.
What I look for is do they have lots of nice stuff, but have to wait until payday to afford McDonald's, paper towels, cat food, gas. Basic stuff that doesn't cost that much that someone with 3 different gaming systems and a shiny new watch they just bought really ought to be able to afford.
Do they have a super nice car, but can't afford cough medicine? Go out to eat 3 times on pay week then ask you for 5 bucks to buy sometime next week?
I really can't stand it when someone can't manage their money. I would still date someone like that with the understanding that if we get serious I manage the money in the household.

I certainly take it into account. I have a very low income, if I could it would be zero. ie if I could reduce my expenses enough. That said, many women would see me as a potential user or that I would want their money.

I dated an extremely powerful and wealthy woman a few years back, she wanted to buy me with all sorts of promises. I was not interested, and then she came out with other issues. I would not be able to have my young friends come and stay when they were in need because her money would be going into the household. I had suggested that if anything were to come of us that we could each put in the same amount and she should keep the rest of hers to herself, she didn't want her lifestyle restricted by my lower income. Her plan was we would travel anywhere I wanted to go and she would buy herself a house anywhere I wanted to live and I had to live as she determined.

So my situation is the reverse, I do not feel comfortable if the woman had a noticeably higher level of income than I did. My concern has nothing to do with any macho idea of the guy being the breadwinner. Ideology is a big issue, I enjoy/prefer not having money, it is by choice, a choice I have revisited many times.

Any female who DOESN'T take income into consideration when considering being with a male is just asking for trouble. Unless, that is, she is financially independent and is taking on the lover for other reasons.

Men typically only care about a potential female mate being attractive, young, fertile, and willing to take care of him, since men have traditionally had the higher income.

But male-ish women who lack female instincts, and throw themselves at men, allowing dead beats to move in and take advantage of them are legion. Of course, guys are often happy to take her money, sponge off her income, and still cheat anyway.

Yes, you are a bad person. Life is not all about money!

As a straight guy I already know that women make about 3/4s or less of what I make so I pay more attention to what she spends her money on, if she spends it all, has heavy credit card debt or is saving for a special thing she wants are big indicators. To me her attitude toward sex is way more important than how much she makes because I also know if I'm inspired by a sexually satisfying relationship I can easily go out and get as much money as I want to.

I care a lot more that they have a passion and contribute to society in some way.