Very confusing, isn’t it?
It doesn’t really matter if schools are reaches or not. You can apply to as many schools at the high end of your list as you want - ten, twenty, thirty . . . Have fun with it. Dream big. You’ll find out the results when you hear back with the results of the school’s decisions.
The single most important school(s) on your list is your safety(ies). You should have at least one school on your list - preferably row or three - where admission is a slam dunk, a school which you can afford, AND where you’d be happy to go. That’s where you should be putting your energy. There are plenty of terrific schools which fly under the radar but whose alumni do very well in their careers and earn high salaries. The fact that they’re not household names is irrelevant.