Upper middle class (not adjusted for COL) ends at 350K HHI nationally, DC is 476K-525K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest that the fact the range goes up to $350k would indicate there is already an allowance for COL.

Even if DC, someone making $400k doesn't get to call themselves upper middle class. Sorry.

I know we have had this arguments here a million times but 400k is not rich or wealthy in this area. It is UMC.

Yes. Some people are so disconnected from reality!

Not the pp, but very few people who actually make 400k share your sentiment. People who have personal experience of what it's like to make 400k are usually better judges of reality than those who do not.

How is the top 0.75% the middle of anything? The middle class is typically around the middle 50 percent of the income curve. With median HHI's around $80-90K in the DC metro area, the 75th percentile is around $150K. So, you're saying that in a metro area of over 6M people, with over 1.5M households, that the top 20-30K people are still middle class? Does that mean that 1.4M households out of 1.5M in the Washington metro area are poor?

No, those making 400K who think they are middle class because they spent a huge boatload of money buying expensive homes in NW, Potomac, Bethesda, Great Falls, McLean, etc, are the ones out of touch with reality. Put another way, those with $400K have this fairy tale illusion of what they think middle class is. They are out of touch with the way the actual middle class actually lives. I'm sorry, but this isn't the days of the Wally and Beaver.

Agreed. The disconnect isn't people who have less than $400k not knowing what it's like - it's people who make $400k thinking that's basically the same as 50 or 100. (Or maybe I just don't understand what umc means at all....)

UMC means good public schools, 3000SF house, decent commute, 2 toyotas, saving for retirement and college.

[Anonymous]

Upper middle class is a salary range, not what you do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Upper middle class is a salary range, not what you do with it.

It's lifestyle

[Anonymous]

No, look at the numbers. It doesn't matter what your lifestyle is. If you're earning in the top 1 percent, by definition you are wealthy. It doesn't matter if you feel you have to make choices or compromises. You are still, by definition, wealthy, based on the income distribution in this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meh, as long as you can pay for your needs and wants you are wealthy.

Otherwise, you are poor even if you earn millions.

A teacher once told my graduating class - "Figure what you want in life materially and then go and earn the money to make it a reality".

Dying with millions in your bank is a waste of that time in your life that you spent earning it.

Marry me.

[Anonymous]

I truly don't understand the desperate DCUM need to claim $400K a year is "middle class." Why is that so important to you? You are RICH. You DID WELL. Why are you so determined to cry poor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest that the fact the range goes up to $350k would indicate there is already an allowance for COL.

Even if DC, someone making $400k doesn't get to call themselves upper middle class. Sorry.

I know we have had this arguments here a million times but 400k is not rich or wealthy in this area. It is UMC.

Yes. Some people are so disconnected from reality!

Not the pp, but very few people who actually make 400k share your sentiment. People who have personal experience of what it's like to make 400k are usually better judges of reality than those who do not.

How is the top 0.75% the middle of anything? The middle class is typically around the middle 50 percent of the income curve. With median HHI's around $80-90K in the DC metro area, the 75th percentile is around $150K. So, you're saying that in a metro area of over 6M people, with over 1.5M households, that the top 20-30K people are still middle class? Does that mean that 1.4M households out of 1.5M in the Washington metro area are poor?

No, those making 400K who think they are middle class because they spent a huge boatload of money buying expensive homes in NW, Potomac, Bethesda, Great Falls, McLean, etc, are the ones out of touch with reality. Put another way, those with $400K have this fairy tale illusion of what they think middle class is. They are out of touch with the way the actual middle class actually lives. I'm sorry, but this isn't the days of the Wally and Beaver.

We are not talking about middle, but upper middle. So all your frantic typing above is meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest that the fact the range goes up to $350k would indicate there is already an allowance for COL.

Even if DC, someone making $400k doesn't get to call themselves upper middle class. Sorry.

I know we have had this arguments here a million times but 400k is not rich or wealthy in this area. It is UMC.

Yes. Some people are so disconnected from reality!

Not the pp, but very few people who actually make 400k share your sentiment. People who have personal experience of what it's like to make 400k are usually better judges of reality than those who do not.

How is the top 0.75% the middle of anything? The middle class is typically around the middle 50 percent of the income curve. With median HHI's around $80-90K in the DC metro area, the 75th percentile is around $150K. So, you're saying that in a metro area of over 6M people, with over 1.5M households, that the top 20-30K people are still middle class? Does that mean that 1.4M households out of 1.5M in the Washington metro area are poor?

No, those making 400K who think they are middle class because they spent a huge boatload of money buying expensive homes in NW, Potomac, Bethesda, Great Falls, McLean, etc, are the ones out of touch with reality. Put another way, those with $400K have this fairy tale illusion of what they think middle class is. They are out of touch with the way the actual middle class actually lives. I'm sorry, but this isn't the days of the Wally and Beaver.

We are not talking about middle, but upper middle. So all your frantic typing above is meaningless.

Must be good drugs you get. Even if you want to classify middle class as the middle 50 percentile (say 25-75), then UMC would be somewhere in the 75-90 percentile. So that might raise it to the 150-250K range. $400K is the top 0.75% of the nation, and about the top 1% of the DC metro area. There is no way that 99% of the population is middle class or lower. Only those out of touch with reality would delude themselves into thinking that the top 1% of the population is not rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest that the fact the range goes up to $350k would indicate there is already an allowance for COL.

Even if DC, someone making $400k doesn't get to call themselves upper middle class. Sorry.

I know we have had this arguments here a million times but 400k is not rich or wealthy in this area. It is UMC.

Yes. Some people are so disconnected from reality!

Not the pp, but very few people who actually make 400k share your sentiment. People who have personal experience of what it's like to make 400k are usually better judges of reality than those who do not.

Isn't $400K in the top 2% of wage earners in this country?

So yes, definitely no longer upper middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest that the fact the range goes up to $350k would indicate there is already an allowance for COL.

Even if DC, someone making $400k doesn't get to call themselves upper middle class. Sorry.

I know we have had this arguments here a million times but 400k is not rich or wealthy in this area. It is UMC.

Yes. Some people are so disconnected from reality!

Not the pp, but very few people who actually make 400k share your sentiment. People who have personal experience of what it's like to make 400k are usually better judges of reality than those who do not.

How is the top 0.75% the middle of anything? The middle class is typically around the middle 50 percent of the income curve. With median HHI's around $80-90K in the DC metro area, the 75th percentile is around $150K. So, you're saying that in a metro area of over 6M people, with over 1.5M households, that the top 20-30K people are still middle class? Does that mean that 1.4M households out of 1.5M in the Washington metro area are poor?

No, those making 400K who think they are middle class because they spent a huge boatload of money buying expensive homes in NW, Potomac, Bethesda, Great Falls, McLean, etc, are the ones out of touch with reality. Put another way, those with $400K have this fairy tale illusion of what they think middle class is. They are out of touch with the way the actual middle class actually lives. I'm sorry, but this isn't the days of the Wally and Beaver.

We are not talking about middle, but upper middle. So all your frantic typing above is meaningless.

Must be good drugs you get. Even if you want to classify middle class as the middle 50 percentile (say 25-75), then UMC would be somewhere in the 75-90 percentile. So that might raise it to the 150-250K range. $400K is the top 0.75% of the nation, and about the top 1% of the DC metro area. There is no way that 99% of the population is middle class or lower. Only those out of touch with reality would delude themselves into thinking that the top 1% of the population is not rich.

Yup, you are the one percent. Own it. Yes, people make more than you. Yes, you make choices and make compromises. But you're in the top 1 percent. Ipso facto, you are not middle class (upper middle class is part of middle class, just as lower middle class is part of middle class.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[

We are not talking about middle, but upper middle. So all your frantic typing above is meaningless.

Do you really not get that upper middle is part of middle class, just as lower middle class is part of middle class? Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, look at the numbers. It doesn't matter what your lifestyle is. If you're earning in the top 1 percent, by definition you are wealthy. It doesn't matter if you feel you have to make choices or compromises. You are still, by definition, wealthy, based on the income distribution in this country.

It certainly is related to lifestyle. Not anecdotal lifestyle, mind you, but general lifestyle of those who have such an income level. If economic class has no relationship to lifestyle, then what possible problem would there be associated with poverty?

[Anonymous]

You have class by income, net worth, and social status. The three don't always overlap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are not talking about middle, but upper middle. So all your frantic typing above is meaningless.

Must be good drugs you get. Even if you want to classify middle class as the middle 50 percentile (say 25-75), then UMC would be somewhere in the 75-90 percentile. So that might raise it to the 150-250K range. $400K is the top 0.75% of the nation, and about the top 1% of the DC metro area. There is no way that 99% of the population is middle class or lower. Only those out of touch with reality would delude themselves into thinking that the top 1% of the population is not rich.

Immediate PP, preach.

-UMC on less than $150K, no illusions here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[

We are not talking about middle, but upper middle. So all your frantic typing above is meaningless.

Do you really not get that upper middle is part of middle class, just as lower middle class is part of middle class? Really?

No, middle class is listed distinctly different from upper middle class, and so is lower middle class. You can mix them together if it makes you feel better about your own arguments, but most of the analysis I've seen list them as separate classes. Also, it's debatable where the upper cut-off for upper middle class is. This WSJ article indicates upper middle class usually ends at the top 1% or 2%:

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/06/21/not-just-the-1-the-upper-middle-class-is-larger-and-richer-than-ever/

Based on this analysis back in 2012, $400k only gets you to the top 3% in the DC metro area:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/15/business/one-percent-map.html

That means someone making 400k in the DC area is regarded as upper middle class by most researchers.