I know any debt is bad, but is a 4 to 1 INCOME to DEBT ratio acceptable, average, or bad?

$200k income to $50k debt. $10k of the debt was business startup costs.

Eduardo is right - not all debt is bad, there is such a thing as good debt, namely a mortgage, because the house appreciates in value over the long term and because of leverage, you get a better return on investment than if you bought it all cash. Bad debt would be car loan (ultimately it offsets because the car allows you to go to work to EARN money).

Your debt to income ratio is good, I won't say excellent but solid. However, it is more important to look at your Profit to Debt ratio because $100k income could yield only $10k in profits - then you have to service those debts.

Focus more on Profit to Debt because if your profits go up, you are either INCREASING your INCOME or you are becoming MORE EFFICIENT, or BOTH, either way you are even better off.

Lastly, don't always rush to pay off debt - take a good look at the opportunity cost, as in paying off $50k of debt that is at 10% when you could have reinvested that $50k and gotten a 25% return would not be the best use of money.

That's good... a LOT better than most people, actually.

Debt is not bad! Have you heard that saying?...always work with other people's money...it's beacause of leverage!! Do a search on leverage on google, and find out how you can make more money by using debt...Of course there are diferent variables you have to take into consideration when you are talking about debt, such as interest rate and rate of return of the investment (and others).. but as a general rule debt is not bad!
I think 4 to 1 ratio is great!