PSA: $250K family of 4 in the DMV area is not middle class

[Anonymous]

We are a family of 2 living well on $85k take home. We only need $35k (housing, health, utilities) to pay all bills. We could lower our bills to $25k a year if times got hard and/or upped out take home to $100k+.
We can't even start to spend most of the money. It just goes or stays in investments.
We feel we are comfortable middle class.

[Anonymous]

Family of five at $224 and this makes sense. We can pay all bills easily and save for college (will be able to pay cash for state school rates for all three). So we are comfortable.

But we take a flying vacation every other year and have never traveled internationally or to the West Coast, so we don’t feel rich. And that’s fine!

[Anonymous]

A younger couple at $250k with two kids in day care is a heck of a lot different than a $250k couple with teens who have the advantage of savings and house appreciation. It is two completely different worlds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m at $253K for the first time this year and still juggling FB aments. If you weren’t lucky enough to get a 2% mortgage, life is extremely expensive.

Life is indeed expensive. But, $250K is not "middle class". You are still doing better than most in this area. That is the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A younger couple at $250k with two kids in day care is a heck of a lot different than a $250k couple with teens who have the advantage of savings and house appreciation. It is two completely different worlds.

While that is true, imagine making $180K in this area. Those people are middle class. You are still able to afford more than the actual middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:..no matter how much you think you are. If you feel middle class, then your spending is probably too high.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/16/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/

Housing costs. It's housing costs that get us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m at $253K for the first time this year and still juggling FB aments. If you weren’t lucky enough to get a 2% mortgage, life is extremely expensive.

Thank you for providing an example of how out of touch people in this area are! Great job!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A younger couple at $250k with two kids in day care is a heck of a lot different than a $250k couple with teens who have the advantage of savings and house appreciation. It is two completely different worlds.

If you can't afford two kids in daycare at $250K, your housing costs too much. We are able to afford $5K/month in daycare costs when earning $150K with a mortgage of $2700/month. Do we live in a huge SFH? Nope, but we're still able to save and when the kids are in ES, that extra $5K a month will allow us to buy one.

[Anonymous]

News flash- upper middle class is still middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:..no matter how much you think you are. If you feel middle class, then your spending is probably too high.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/16/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/

Housing costs. It's housing costs that get us.

while I agree housing here is very expensive, you probably bought too much house cost wise for your income. I'm not unsympathetic to high housing costs. I used to live in the SF Bay Area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m at $253K for the first time this year and still juggling FB aments. If you weren’t lucky enough to get a 2% mortgage, life is extremely expensive.

Then you pick a cheaper house.

[Anonymous]

I think when I married and hit 250K from being a single Mom we "suddenly" had enough money for all of the savings to also have money leftover.

E.g. max 401K, max 529, brokerage account plus hone repairs, vacations, etc.

But there wasn't a ton leftover after we hit all of those marks.

From 300- 500K it was suddenly we had extra money floating around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:News flash- upper middle class is still middle class.

? Did you even click on the link? It doesn't state $250K is "umc". The calculation shows that would be "upper" band of income. There is a range of middle class to be sure, but according to that website, $250K is in the upper income range not "upper middle" income range.

The calculation accounts for the cost of living in the metro area. Sure, $250K HHI is not living the same as $2mil HHI, but $200K HHI is also not living the same as $80K income yet they are both in the same MC bracket.

The calculation shows the range of the income bracket, not your personal lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A younger couple at $250k with two kids in day care is a heck of a lot different than a $250k couple with teens who have the advantage of savings and house appreciation. It is two completely different worlds.

Or one person making 250k and having a sahm is different than two people making 125k and needing daycare.

Currently I spend 53k a year on daycare and aftercare. And it’s definitely not top of the line daycare either.

[Anonymous]

Just my two cents- people often calculate their HHI after taxes/retirement/insurance is removed. We are at about that income when we’ve maxed out retirement, it can sometimes feel tight if there’s a big repair expense. People forget how much they are savings snd concentrate on the monthly bill amount.

Also, our housings costs are much lower than normal, but SN kids and medical costs are very expensive. Sometimes it’s not overspending on housing.