At what HHI did you stop feeling middle class?

[Anonymous]

I could have a million bazillion dollars and FEEL middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It wasn’t until we hit $1 million that I felt anything more than dirt poor.

Even then you probably had to manage your household staff yourself. Poor thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Class does not equal income. Class is about behavior and tastes. Most upper class will be highly educated, usually in private school. They will value health, exercise, travel, and nutritious food. They choose quality over quantity. They are normally physically fit and social chameleons.

Many many middle class (and lower class) people value education health, exercise, travel, and nutrition food, and quality over quantity. You may say they are just emulating the wealthy, but these are very common values. Money is what gives you the ability to pursue these values in specific ways. You can value world travel all you want, but can you afford making it happen, or are you doing more local travel?

Seriously, these people are so out of touch with everyone else.

[Anonymous]

80k in the mid 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that socioeconomic status isn’t just about money. There is a huge socio part to it. So, I will always feel middle class because that is how I grew up and it is a part of me despite having a high income. Why does it matter how someone feels? We should talk about facts and how we allocate responsibilities like taxes based on facts. Income of X is high earning. I think it should be taxed at a higher rate than income of Y. None of this feeling stuff. It is too squishy and doesn’t move the conversation along. Just makes people crazy.

Yes! Americans convolute class and income. These are not the same thing as almost any European will tell you. I feel middle class because I am as my tastes and attitude will demonstrate. I am definitely upper income and high wealth. I'm still middle class!

Why do people keep repeating this stupidity? So some Republican centimillionaire who made his fortune in trash collection is middle class because he went to public schools and doesn't go to art museums on weekends?

[Anonymous]

Around 400k I felt the change from middle to UMC. Could definitely start affording extras and money became much less of an issue. Lots of savings and extra cushion in the budget, plus a few luxury’s every year or was a difference. And a general feeling of financial security.

[Anonymous]

600k and I feel like we are finally out of middle class and in the UMC range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that socioeconomic status isn’t just about money. There is a huge socio part to it. So, I will always feel middle class because that is how I grew up and it is a part of me despite having a high income. Why does it matter how someone feels? We should talk about facts and how we allocate responsibilities like taxes based on facts. Income of X is high earning. I think it should be taxed at a higher rate than income of Y. None of this feeling stuff. It is too squishy and doesn’t move the conversation along. Just makes people crazy.

Yes! Americans convolute class and income. These are not the same thing as almost any European will tell you. I feel middle class because I am as my tastes and attitude will demonstrate. I am definitely upper income and high wealth. I'm still middle class!

Well, we are in America, and class and income are more intertwined and flexible than in some other places. If we aren't talking about income/wealth, then who cares about having a defined middle class? What is that definition useful for?

this is not true. Class has more to do with wealth than income.

Americans are horrible at understanding class because we pretend it doesn't exist. Interesting enough, we do understand how race works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that socioeconomic status isn’t just about money. There is a huge socio part to it. So, I will always feel middle class because that is how I grew up and it is a part of me despite having a high income. Why does it matter how someone feels? We should talk about facts and how we allocate responsibilities like taxes based on facts. Income of X is high earning. I think it should be taxed at a higher rate than income of Y. None of this feeling stuff. It is too squishy and doesn’t move the conversation along. Just makes people crazy.

Yes! Americans convolute class and income. These are not the same thing as almost any European will tell you. I feel middle class because I am as my tastes and attitude will demonstrate. I am definitely upper income and high wealth. I'm still middle class!

Well, we are in America, and class and income are more intertwined and flexible than in some other places. If we aren't talking about income/wealth, then who cares about having a defined middle class? What is that definition useful for?

this is not true. Class has more to do with wealth than income.

Americans are horrible at understanding class because we pretend it doesn't exist. Interesting enough, we do understand how race works.


Umm, I think we're still figuring out how race works in the sense that we have a lot of issues that persist as a result of systemic racism (health equity, police brutality), but we acknowledge race and racism better than some other countries.

When you say class has has more to do with wealth than income are you talking about generational wealth vs w-2's? If that's what you mean, I agree to a certain extent. I live in an area where there is a ton of generational wealth and it's crazy how entitled some people are.

[Anonymous]

NP - for a lot of years we lived middle class but we were very big savers so I can’t say we were middle class because we didn’t have MC financial pressures. Once we became empty nesters and colleges were paid for we really changed our lifestyle. But I’m really glad we had a big saving mentality and lived well below our income because now we are retired and living well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that socioeconomic status isn’t just about money. There is a huge socio part to it. So, I will always feel middle class because that is how I grew up and it is a part of me despite having a high income. Why does it matter how someone feels? We should talk about facts and how we allocate responsibilities like taxes based on facts. Income of X is high earning. I think it should be taxed at a higher rate than income of Y. None of this feeling stuff. It is too squishy and doesn’t move the conversation along. Just makes people crazy.

Yes! Americans convolute class and income. These are not the same thing as almost any European will tell you. I feel middle class because I am as my tastes and attitude will demonstrate. I am definitely upper income and high wealth. I'm still middle class!

Well, we are in America, and class and income are more intertwined and flexible than in some other places. If we aren't talking about income/wealth, then who cares about having a defined middle class? What is that definition useful for?

this is not true. Class has more to do with wealth than income.

Americans are horrible at understanding class because we pretend it doesn't exist. Interesting enough, we do understand how race works.

+1 as America ages, we will see more of this separation, i.e., a cash flow poor upper class person.. God knows we already see the opposite - a rich person who lacks social etiquette and has cheap taste. We also do see, maybe not in DC, the super wealthy driving the old Ford pickup with old boots, but every social grace in tact and perfectly lovely to he around.. These are just growing pains of a young nation establishing itself amoungst more established nations - Australia and Canada are similar to us.

[Anonymous]

Class is a bad term. Middle income is probably more appropriate for most of the posts here. I think a real feeling of financial security comes from net worth. If you make 450k and get fired, your runway is not very long. But if you have 10 million in the bank and take income of $450k, you might feel more secure - not having to work for instance. I guess, I think middle class/income is about financial vulnerability. In my mind, you are economically vulnerable until you have enough wealth built up so that you can withstand losing your job without changing your lifestyle too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class is a bad term. Middle income is probably more appropriate for most of the posts here. I think a real feeling of financial security comes from net worth. If you make 450k and get fired, your runway is not very long. But if you have 10 million in the bank and take income of $450k, you might feel more secure - not having to work for instance. I guess, I think middle class/income is about financial vulnerability. In my mind, you are economically vulnerable until you have enough wealth built up so that you can withstand losing your job without changing your lifestyle too much.

Isn't that called retirement? One doesn't change class when they retire, or do they?

[Anonymous]

$150,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The idea of socioeconomic class around here creates confusion as realistically the average HHI is significantly higher than elsewhere in the nation or even abroad. We are among the richest people in the world, here in the DC area. And yet when you look at your life, living in a small townhouse in a regular suburb driving a practical car like Subaru and sending your kids to public school, you feel like you’re just another regular American. The money doesn’t go far. A young couple bringing in 250k feel less than when really that’s top income globally.

At what point do you feel, well, not middle class?

Def not HHI 250k and my friend says not 300k either for this area.